Rubber tracks for efficient military vehicles

The largest user of tracked vehicles is of course the military, and the steel tracks these vehicles run on have a number of issues associated. Presence of steel tracks drastically reduces the fuel efficiency of the vehicle, they wear out fast, and have to be replaced after every 250 miles or so. While the tracks wear out, they also take with them the road they move on, which must be replaced as well. They also cause severe vibrations, that can result in health problems for those in the vehicle. After this long list of troubles associated with steel tracks comes the solution: Rubber Tracks.

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It’s strange no one thought of this solution before, but now that someone has, rubber tracks appear to take care of all these problems as if they were sent by God himself. They’re lighter, so they can be made wider and thereby reduce chances of being stuck in mud, they provide improved fuel efficiency, vibrations are reduced, handling improves dramatically and without all those chunks of metal making cluttering sounds, the vehicles get a lot quieter.

With a solution so obvious and appealingly advantageous, there’s got to be a hitch; the rubber isn’t strong enough to hold 50 tonne battle tanks, and is currently under testing for the 30 tonne vehicles. Now we know why no one thought of this solution before.

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Via: TreeHugger