WHEELED-TRACKED VEHICLE HYBRID

摘要

A vehicle for use on a battlefield, having a hull with at least one endless track unit mounted underneath, and with a plurality of selectively vertically moveable wheels. The endless track unit may cover substantially all of the bottom side of the vehicle and may wrap upward to cover a portion of the front of the vehicle. The vehicle may be operated with only the wheels, the wheels and the endless track unit in combination, or only the endless track unit in contact with the ground. The vehicle has a height variable suspension element, which may be a hydropneumatic spring, coupled to each wheel. The suspension elements are connected with a power unit and a control unit to allow selective controllability of suspension height, and corresponding extension or retraction of the wheels. The wheels may also be provided with a resilient suspension mechanism that is either separate or formed by the height variable suspension elements. The vehicle may have a plurality of motors, each motor driving a separate wheel, and the wheels may be operable at separately selectable speeds. The endless track unit may have multiple driving rollers, each driving roller having a separate driving motor. Further, the endless track unit may have a rigid suspension.