While you are at it, why not just have two wheels per track, and split the track into 3-4 sections on each side. That way a mine or RPG. Wouldn't blow off the entire track, just one of the sections, while the overall assembly would still have better ground-pressure than a wheel chassis.

Think about it.

 

We'd of built it and used your ideas; if they were good ones.

 

Still might use distributed motor architecture in some traction schemes for some LIMITED applications.

 

Herald

 

 

Tolerance.

A tank track does not have constant spacing between track links - most, if not all, have track-tensioning devices for when a track stretches under use. Sometimes the crew have to knock a link out. This variable link spacing isn't too much of a problem for a single sprocket, as there is sufficient play to deal with it, since it is just between individual links. if you have two fixed positions (sprockets) a fair distance apart, the variation builds up and the two sprockets won't be able to keep position.

Having worked on Bradleys, I'll chime in a bit.

 

Road wheels take some hellish punishment and abuse under field conditions.

I've seen sizeable chunks of rubber broken off (a solid band of rubber normally encompasses the metal road wheel hub), whether due to just wearing out from the elements (dry rot, like any other tire material) or getting scuffed, cracked, dented, and damaged by heavy use.

 

Watch a tank get up to speed over rough terrain, with the road wheels flexing up and down on their suspension elements (torsion bars typically, but some AFVs still use hydrodynamic shock absorbers, and some have recoil struts wrapped with a heavy coil, looking not unlike the heavy suspension in some older cars and trucks).

When the vehicle has moments that part of its tracks are off the ground (or the whole vehicle, we've all seen those jump shots), that's a lot of weight and physical strain the road wheel must absorb when all umpteen tons of the vehicle comes crashing back down on them at ground contact.

 

Now you want to suggest putting electric hub motors in them, too?

Take a helluva lot of engineering to get the component strength up to snuff.

And then there's the fact you'll have to run power conduits thru/around the suspension elements (can't risk pinching off an umpteen volt/umpteen amp cable and sending the juice across a metal hull).

 

Making a hollow road wheel hub that won't get dented easily, and contains electrical windings, contacts, and power connectors that won't break under the everyday stresses road wheels are subject to,

will prove quite difficult.

Certainly not impossible though, with enough money thrown at it.

But better solutions are here, now: multiple wheels with powered hubs (like many 8x8 tech demostrators),

or hybrid drives and band tracks that still use the standard sprocket-roadwheels-idler layout.

 

It would be much simpler in the end just to add a proper track tensioning mechanism.

That will actually be a necessity, if the bandtrack design will be what the final FCS vehicles use (as opposed to semi-metallic links).