The wheeled fighting vehicle is increasingly used by the world's armies
will it be able to completely replace the main battle tank (MBT) in the future?
During the development process, the defense industry in many countries around the world has produced many different types of weapons
They were particularly interested in the idea of mounting a powerful weapon on a light wheel armored chassis
The popularity of the design flourished in the second half of the 20th century
Wheeled combat vehicles were created with power not inferior to the classic tracked armored vehicles
So what are the advantages and disadvantages of these combat vehicles?
The first issue to mention is that the wheeled vehicle is relatively light and this simplifies transporting them to the battlefield
The mass of a light wheel combat vehicle, even with additional armor plates
does not exceed 20-25 tons, much less than any other main battle tank
Deploying wheeled vehicles with heavy weapons is a much easier task
The ability to deploy wheeled combat vehicles by military transport aircraft
is one of the main reasons why these vehicles are used, developed and served by many armies around the world
In modern armed conflicts, it is necessary to quickly bring military equipment to the area of a conflict
and the military has come to a sensible decision
light armored vehicles such as Armoured personnel carriers
Infantry fighting vehicles and wheeled combat vehicles will be brought to battlefield first
Light armored vehicles, including wheeled combat vehicles, will function as a highly mobile combat unit to support ground forces
Wheel armored vehicles have a higher travel speed compared to tracked vehicles
which gives the advantage of maneuverability and speed, with much less harm to the road surface
The downside of the wheeled tank, though, is its poor off-roading capabilities
Such vehicles travel very quickly on asphalt and dirt roads, but on rough terrain they immediately lose to track armored vehicles
Another downside is the poor level of self-protection
The wheeled tank is light, mainly because the armor is thin and weak, which means both advantages and disadvantages
Wheel armored vehicles cannot be used in combat like the MBT, nor are they suitable against the MBT
it is more suitable for the role of destroying light armored vehicles
This combat vehicle is more suitable in areas where the main battle tank cannot be deployed and large-scale military operations are not performed
it is more suitable for urban combat
In actual use of the wheeled combat vehicle in the world, its downsides were noted
the wheelbase did not turn out to have any particular advantage over a tracked vehicle
In addition, speed is not necessarily an advantage due to the lack of good road, and when used on off-road, its weaknesses are more evident
In addition, tire wear while driving on complex terrain is much higher than expected
It is easy to see that the wheeled combat vehicle is not a complete replacement for the MBT, as it lags far behind in some basic characteristics
What the future of a wheeled tank will be, of course it will continue to evolve, and improvements could go the way of enhancing protection
while maintaining a sufficiently light combat weight
And of course, the reality of modern military conflicts will play a big role in shaping the look of a future wheeled tank