Over the past decades, the global defense industry has come up with many new types of weapons. Among others, the idea of installing relatively powerful weapons on a relatively light wheeled chassis with appropriate armor is of particular interest. This military equipment received the unofficial name "wheeled tank". At the same time, the question of the classification of such armored vehicles still does not have a clear and unambiguous answer. The fact is that different countries use different terms from each other. As a result, some armies use heavy armored vehicles, others use cannon armored cars, and still others use armored reconnaissance vehicles. Finally, in the CFE Treaty, such equipment is listed as heavy weapons combat vehicles (BMTV). Moreover, all three or four "classes" of technology almost do not differ from each other in the basic features of their appearance.
Unfortunately for the authors of the idea, classification problems are far from the most serious difficulties for wheeled tanks. At the level of their very ideology, they have a number of characteristic features that for many years have caused active controversy in military circles, as well as among experts and amateurs of military equipment. Most often, wheeled tanks are compared to heavy tracked armored vehicles, which is why discussions very rarely end with an agreement between the parties. Let's try to figure out what is good and what is bad about wheeled BMTV, and also try to predict the future of armored cars with powerful guns.
First of all, we need to understand the prerequisites for the appearance of the first wheeled tanks and the formation of their appearance. If their older tracked brothers were formed to work in European conditions, where the largest wars of the last century took place, then wheeled armored vehicles with cannon armament are to some extent a "product" of the landscape of other continents. As an example of the first wheeled tank, the French Panhard AML armored car is often cited, one of the modifications of which carried a 90 mm cannon. The wheeled chassis of this armored car has proven itself well in Africa during various wars with the participation of France. As for the weapons, the CN-90FJ cannon was effective against almost all targets that the French soldiers had to fight. However, the main impetus for the creation of a heavy armored car with a serious cannon was the fighting in southern Africa. The South African military quickly came to the conclusion that wheeled armored vehicles with at least anti-bullet protection and anti-tank weapons, for example, a cannon or ATGM, would be the most effective in the local conditions. At the same time, the first ideas for armored vehicles of the MRAP system appeared.
Panhard AML
Wheeled chassis were considered the most promising due to their good resource. During the fighting with Angolan militias, South African soldiers very often had to make long marches along the roads. In this case, the tracks of classic tanks quickly fell into disrepair and the vast majority of new equipment began to be made on wheels. In addition, the production capabilities and geographical features of the area affected. Due to the relatively hard soil of the savannas, the cross-country characteristics of the tracked tanks turned out to be excessive, which, however, had almost no effect on the wear of the tracks. Such an interesting approach to the choice of the undercarriage ultimately affected the entire appearance of the South African army - even full-fledged self-propelled artillery mounts are made on a wheelbase.
Ratel FSV90
As a matter of fact, it was the good driving characteristics on normal roads, together with the high resource of the propulsion unit, that became the main reason that, following the South African Ratel FSV90 armored vehicles, other vehicles of a similar appearance began to appear. Over time, the number of heavy armored vehicles with cannon armament reached the size at which it was possible to speak of an emerging trend. At the moment, the French ERC-90 and AMX-10RC, the Italian Centauro, the American M1128 MGS and other cars of this class have become widely known. The Russian military and designers have not yet decided on the need for such equipment for our armed forces, but have already shown interest in foreign developments that can help form a general idea of the design features of a wheeled tank.
ERC-90
AMX-10RC
It is worth noting that basically you will have to be content with only constructive details. The fact is that of the entire mass of wheeled tanks in real large-scale hostilities, only the South African Ratel FSV90 managed to participate. Other vehicles of this class participated in battles only in small numbers and only in small local conflicts, where they had to fight with a poorly equipped enemy. So, in 1992, eight Italian Centauros were sent to Somalia, where they participated in a peacekeeping operation. Almost immediately it became clear that the power of the 105-mm LR cannon was excessive to deal with the vast majority of targets encountered by the Italian peacekeepers. Therefore, most of the combat missions concerned the observation of the terrain and the issuance of information to patrols, for which new observation devices turned out to be very useful. Heavy armament of armored vehicles was used only in some cases for self-defense. This was not without criticism. First of all, the soldier was not satisfied with the durability of the tires. The state of the roads in Somalia was, to put it mildly, unsatisfactory: even the main highway of the country, the Imperial Highway, had not seen repairmen for four years by the time the Centaur armored cars arrived, and on other roads the situation was even worse. Because of this, the Italian peacekeepers too often had to change wheels due to constant damage. Over time, the Centauro was fitted with more durable tires. Reservations turned out to be a more serious problem. The hull of the Italian wheeled tank was made with the expectation of shelling from 12, 7-mm small arms, but in a number of cases, during ambushes, the Centaurs received serious damage from DShK machine guns. More serious weapons, such as RPG-7 grenade launchers, could simply destroy the armored vehicle. For these reasons, the Italians urgently had to order ROMOR-A reactive armor kits from the UK. Thanks to the timely strengthening of protection, Italy did not lose a single wheeled tank in Somalia.
B1 Centauro
It is noteworthy that during the battles in Somalia, all the main shortcomings of the wheeled tank concept appeared. Despite preliminary calculations, the wheeled mover in practice did not have a big advantage over the tracked one. A high maximum speed in real conditions was impossible due to the lack of good roads, and off-road the cross-country ability of wheeled vehicles was often worse than that of tracked vehicles. In addition, "Centaurs" with the first version of the wheels, as already mentioned, were subject to regular tire damage. As for the resource of the undercarriage, due to the specific loads when driving over rough terrain, the actual wear of the parts turned out to be much higher than the calculated one, just at the level of the tank tracks. As a result, all the seeming advantages associated with various aspects of movement were “killed” by the real situation. In the future, the Centauro armored car was slightly modified, in particular, the running gear resource increased.
The second “Somali” problem was related to the level of protection. When creating the first wheeled tanks, it was assumed that this technique would take on the role of main tanks in conflicts with a weakly armed enemy. Therefore, most armored vehicles with heavy weapons are not equipped with anti-cannon armor. Nevertheless, even the first cases of the use of wheeled tanks in local conflicts have demonstrated, at least, the dubious nature of such a technical solution. Vehicles with bulletproof armor can adequately withstand an enemy armed only with small arms. But against artillery or tanks, they are simply useless. One can immediately recall the excessive power of weapons, which manifested itself back in Somalia. The result is a rather strange machine with a wheelbase, powerful weapons and weak defense. Throughout history, armored vehicles have evolved along the path of a balance between weapons and protection. Wheeled tanks, in turn, tried to break this technical "tradition", but did not achieve much success. Moreover, the installation of a powerful weapon in the case of some BMTV had very interesting consequences. Most wheeled tanks have a relatively high center of gravity (higher than that of tanks of the classical scheme), which, when the turret is turned at a large angle from the longitudinal axis, can lead to the vehicle overturning on its side. Tracked MBTs do not have such a problem.
B1 Centauro
As already mentioned, the Italian "Centaurs", while working in Somalia, received additional protection modules. Other countries followed the same path. For example, the American M1128 MGS wheeled tank of the Stryker family is equipped with a whole set of means to increase the level of protection. All these armor panels and anti-cumulative grilles increase the total weight of the vehicle, which impairs its driving performance. At the same time, almost all wheeled tanks have a combat weight of no more than 20-25 tons, which is significantly less than the corresponding parameter of any modern main battle tank. As a result, the transfer of wheeled vehicles with heavy weapons becomes easier than transporting tanks.
M1128 MGS
The ability to transport wheeled tanks by military transport aircraft by the forces of the most common aircraft (C-130 and the like) is one of the main reasons that this class of equipment continues to develop and until it leaves the military "scene". The military conflicts of recent years have led to the formation of a new concept of the use of troops, implying a rapid transfer to the area of hostilities. The military of some countries developed this idea to an interesting form: relatively light equipment, like armored personnel carriers, infantry fighting vehicles and all the same wheeled tanks, should be the first to arrive at the battlefield. Further, if necessary, heavier armored vehicles, like full-fledged tanks or self-propelled artillery installations, can be delivered to the front line. Thus, light and medium armored vehicles, including wheeled tanks, are given the functions of the main strike force of the ground forces, which has high mobility.
And yet, the use of wheeled vehicles with powerful weapons requires the right approach to planning operations. For example, wheeled tanks should not face tracked tanks or artillery, otherwise the result of this collision is unlikely to be good for vehicles on wheels. In this case, wheeled tanks must fight lightly armored enemy vehicles, for example, armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles, without entering the zone of destruction of their weapons. This applies to armed conflicts of high intensity. In the case of counter-terrorist, counter-guerrilla or peacekeeping operations, the use of wheeled tanks also requires proper planning, but there is no longer a need to so "protect" wheeled armored vehicles from encounters with tracked tanks and artillery. At the same time, enemy guerrilla attacks may require an appropriate approach to the protection of vehicles, which must be performed in accordance with the MRAP concept.
For experts, it has long been no secret that wheeled tanks with tracked vehicles have only one word in common in the name, moreover unofficial, as well as the large caliber of the gun. However, from time to time, in a different context, the issue of displacing main tanks by wheeled armored vehicles with heavy weapons comes up. As is clear from the above facts, in the current state of affairs, a wheeled tank will not only be able to fully perform all the functions of MBT, but even simply approach the latter in a number of characteristics. In this regard, there is no talk anywhere about replacing tracked vehicles with wheeled vehicles, even if only partial ones. As for the future of wheeled tanks, the further development of this idea is likely to go along the path of improving protection while maintaining a relatively low combat mass. The armament should remain the same, because the installation of even more powerful cannons than, for example, on the Italian "Centaur", is associated with a number of technical problems that simply cannot be solved while retaining the existing advantages of this class of technology.
However, the last word in shaping the appearance of the wheeled tanks of the future will still remain with the realities of recent military conflicts in which this technology participated. During the practical application of all available BMTVs, a large number of design complaints have accumulated, some of which have already been resolved. Nevertheless, a considerable number of problems remain, and their fixing could significantly change the appearance of wheeled tanks. But, most likely, in this case, they will not be able to completely displace the usual tracked tanks.
