A Review of Transmission Systems for Tracked Military Vehicles

Abstract. The transmissions and drivelines for many wheeled and, especially, tracked military vehicles have diverged considerably from those of their civilian counterparts over the last 40 years. The high performance, good cross-country mobility and 'drivability' demanded by military users in a tracked vehicle have lead to complex, sophisticated and specialised transmissions, which are usually produced in small numbers and often owe little to commercial practice. Economic constraints on defence procurement and recent developments in the commercial sector have narrowed the technology gap but, as yet, resulted in little collaboration between the two fields. This paper reviews the development of transmissions for tracked military vehicles and examines the potential for greater cross-fertilisation and collaborative development. It is considered that, especially for lighter vehicles such as armoured personnel carriers, it would be technically feasible and economically beneficial to synthesise military transmissions largely from commercial hardware.