The US military invented the wheel, which on the move can become triangular. VIDEO

The Agency for Advanced Developers of the United States Department of Defense (DARPA) has demonstrated the capabilities of the override system for multi-purpose ground vehicles.

Photo: video frame

The Defense Advanced Development Agency of the United States presented several projects to develop new suspension systems and propulsion systems for advanced combat armored vehicles. Among them - the wheel-transformer, which can perform the functions of both the wheel and tracked propulsion. All developments are carried out within the framework of a large-scale program GXV-T.

The GXV-T program involves the development of various technologies that in the future will significantly improve the mobility, survivability, safety and efficiency of military equipment without further enhancing its armor. As a result of the program, the military plan to select several designs that will be used in new ground combat equipment projects. Demonstration tests of some new developments were held at the Aberdeen Testing Center in Maryland in May of this year, but the military disclosed this information just now.

At the demonstration test was presented five developments. Thus, the National Engineering Center for Robotics at Carnegie Mellon University showed a transforming wheel RWT, the demonstration tests of which were carried out on the HMMWV armored vehicle. When moving on a solid surface, this device has the shape of a wheel, but on loose ground it transforms into a tracked propulsion unit. The device itself stops rotating and takes a triangular shape. In this case, the tread of the transformed wheel begins to move, turning into a caterpillar.

Automotive manufacturer Pratt & Miller has introduced the METS wide-travel adaptive suspension. It allows you to keep the body of the machine in a horizontal position when moving in terrain with a strong roll. In addition, it dampens vibrations and vibrations almost completely when driving on bumpy surfaces. This suspension is made up of two short and long travel. The first has a stroke of 10 to 15 centimeters, and the second - 106 centimeters up and 76 centimeters down. The suspension is completely independent.

QinetiQ has presented a new motor-wheel for demonstration tests, in which both the electric motor and the planetary gearbox are placed in a propulsion unit, which in its dimensions exactly matches the standard 20-inch wheel of army armored vehicles. Such a motor-wheel can now be installed on any armored vehicle instead of the usual one with minimal intervention in the design. The electric motor of the new device and the brakes are liquid cooled.

In turn, Raytheon BBN Technologies showed augmented reality system with a circular review for the crews of armored vehicles. This system is a set of various optoelectronic cameras, thermal imagers and lidars installed outside the car, and screens and helmet-mounted displays inside. Images from different sources are combined into one image, significantly increasing the awareness of the crew about what is happening around. In the future, the new system will allow to abandon the inspection cracks and portholes in armored vehicles.

Finally, Carnegie Mellon University demonstrated the remote-controlled ORCA augmented reality system, which makes it possible to significantly simplify the high-speed tracking of unmanned armored vehicles on various types of roads. The system is a set of sensors, including a lidar, on an unmanned vehicle and a remote control point, made in the form of a driver's cabin. At this point, the image from the cameras and the lidar is displayed on the machine, on which additional information is superimposed.

In particular, the ORCA system specifically highlights the boundaries of the road, making them more visible, and also projects the lines along which the driver should drive to fit into a turn or drive around any obstacle.

Last July an Israeli company Elbit Systems took up the development of the system Iron Vision which will provide tank crews with a full circle view through the hull. Thanks to the new system, tank commanders do not have to look out of the hatches to look around during combat operations in the city. Iron vision It is a set of helmets for tank crew members with integrated displays and accelerometers and external cameras located along the perimeter of the tank. Outwardly, helmets resemble closed helmets of fighter pilots.

While in the car, tank crews see an image from external cameras, and this image corresponds to the direction in which the head is turned. When you turn the head, the image shifts, as if the tanker saw the world around him with his own eyes, not on the screen. Technical details about the new system have not yet been disclosed. Iron vision being developed for Israeli main battle tanks Merkava IV.

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