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Defence Ministry to put most armoured vehicles on wheels

Several countries are using wheeled tanks

MOSCOW, July 16 (Itar-Tass) —— The Russian Defence Ministry has made the decision to put most of the armoured vehicles on wheels, Ground Troops Commander-in-Chief, Colonel-General Vladimir Chirkin said on Monday, July 16.

“The leadership of the Defence Ministry has made the decision to put most of the armoured vehicles on wheels. We are starting a R&D project to design wheel-based weapons,” he said.

“Self-propelled artillery systems, missile defence systems and light tanks will be put on wheels shortly,” Chirkin said.

Several countries are using wheeled tanks. Russia has bought their samples to study. “However given natural and geographical peculiarities of many Russian regions, there can be no complete transfer to wheels,” the general said.

He also explained the need for the transfer to wheels by the fact that caterpillar vehicles operate dozens of times less than wheeled ones. “Durability of caterpillar vehicles is 30,000 kilometres at best, while wheeled ones may run up to one million kilometres. This allows wheeled vehicles to move without the need to use railways for redeployment to other regions, including the Far East,” the general said.