Path: spln!rex!dex!extra.newsguy.com!lotsanews.com!news.maxwell.syr.edu!news-feeds.jump.net!news-out.visi.com!hermes.visi.com!gemini.tycho.net.POSTED!not-for-mail Approved: sci-military-moderated@retro.com Return-Path: news@server1.news.syd.ozemail.net Delivery-Date: Fri Aug 03 23:24:34 2001 Delivery-Date: Fri, 03 Aug 2001 23:24:34 -0700 for <sci-military-moderated@retro.com>; Fri, 3 Aug 2001 23:24:32 -0700 (PDT) for <sci-military-moderated@moderators.isc.org>; Sat, 4 Aug 2001 06:09:38 GMT (envelope-from news@server1.news.syd.ozemail.net) To: sci-military-moderated@moderators.isc.org Message-ID: <3B6B9272.996951A2@my-deja.com> From: Brian <brian_ross_665@my-deja.com> X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.74 [en] (X11; U; Linux 2.2.16 i686) X-Accept-Language: en Newsgroups: sci.military.moderated Subject: Re: LAV if you were on the design team References: <3b4c3a3c$1@news.cafevik.icl.co.uk> <20010726145927.10174.00001300@ng-cr1.aol.com> <3b6b1050$0$329$8eec23a@newsreader.tycho.net> Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-NNTP-Posting-Host: octopus.harvestroad.com.au X-NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 04 Aug 2001 16:09:29 EST Organization: OzEmail Ltd, Australia Distribution: world Date: Sat, 04 Aug 2001 14:13:06 +0800 Content-Length: 1692 Lines: 33 NNTP-Posting-Host: 3ba2fa13.newsreader.tycho.net X-Trace: 996945977 gemini.tycho.net 319 205.179.181.194 X-Complaints-To: abuse@tycho.net Xref: spln sci.military.moderated:38487 TTK Ciar wrote: > > Once upon a time, ballingt@aol.comremove (BallingT) said: > > Date: 26 Jul 2001 18:59:27 GMT > > [..snip..] > >Even central tire inflation systems can't overcome a light machine > >gun's shredding effects on rubber tires > > I have been pondering the vulnerability of wheels to light arms > fire a lot lately. How difficult/expensive would it be to build a > wheel that does not rely on inflation to remain rigid, and can > support the weight of the vehicle, but is not too heavy? I have > been thinking of either a hollow steel rubber-covered wheel thick > enough to be bulletproof altogether, or one that was capable of > remaining rigid even with a few holes poked through its side. Run-flat tyres exist in several different forms. Some consist of a steel wheel, within the tyre but of a slightly smaller diameter so that when the tyre deflates, it rests on the ground and allows traction. Others consist of steel disks, again, slightly smaller in diameter than the tyre and when it deflats, the disk come into contact with the ground. All tend to make use of "self-sealing" systems, similar to aircraft fuel tanks to prevent small holes from deflating the tyre. Interestingly, the SADF which operates the Rooikat, an 8 wheeled heavy armoured car, reports that due to "staking" from heavy thorns through the sidewalls of the tyres that the Rooikat has a lot of problems going through thick/rough terrain in Southern Africa _but_ this isn't quite as bad as it sounds. The actual serviceability rates between tracked and wheeled units with similar vehicles is about the same. Broken tracks, shed tracks, etc, are just a frequent as a flat tyre, it seems.