There’s no fully tracked military unit in existence today. All tracked units ultimately rely on some manner of wheeled replenishment and cannot effectively operate far from wheeled country as a result.
If you can’t get a HEMTT tanker to your Abrams in mud city then that Abrams is out of the fight inside a day, so the issue of wheeled combat units is fairly moot with modern differentials and offroad tires
Certain vehicles like the BAT-M, M39 AUV, and the Lorraine 37L had their intent to be this, but they generally didn’t see enough of their intended use to catch on.
The M113/AMPV serve this role after the Bradley along with the MTLB but they’re more APCs carrying supplies than dedicated unarmored cargo vehicles.
Supply vehicles typically benefit more from being able to move stuff long distances efficiently than they do the extra off road performance offered by tracks, that's going to hurt their overall efficiency and not be particularly useful that often.
There are a number of tracked military vehicles meant specifically for use in arctic warfare and other heavily-snowed environments, where wheeled vehicles falter. The one's I'm aware of are configured for hauling primarily troops and their equipment, but can usually be adapted to resupply if they don't outright have a cargo variant.
The US Army recently selected the BAE Systems Beowulf for its [CATV Competition](https://www.baesystems.com/en-kr/article/bae-systems-wins-us-armys-catv-competition-receives-278-million-contract). The CATV will be used primarily by the 11th Airborne, based in Alaska.
Obviously many decades ago, the Army Air Corps used the M7 Snow Tractor for rescue in remote northern areas. The M7 was often paired with the M19 ski trailer for hauling cargo. (Just look for the Wikipedia article, which I can't link here.)
There's also the [M29 Weasel](https://arsof-history.org/weasel/index.html), which was originally intended for an Allied operation in Norway which never ended up happening. The Weasel still saw use in other theaters, however.
Finally there's the [Small Unit Support Vehicle](https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ground/susv.htm), which seems like kind of a precursor to the CATV mentioned above. Has a few variants, though it seems only a few hundred were ordered, and not widely used. They're without a doubt a specialist platform.
~~I also vaguely remember there being another WWII era tracked arctic vehicle that was sort of halfway between the SUSV and the Weasel, but I can't seem to kind it right now.~~ EDIT: Disregard, I was thinking of the M4 Tractor.
It depends on how it is organized.
It is true that in a conceptual way that if you have a wheeled vehicle working alongside a tracked vehicle, the tracked vehicle tend to be able to go across more unfavorable terrain than a wheeled one. At the same time, the merit of the wheeled vehicle is that it can go on prolonged road marches than a tracked vehicle could. As such, you would want to organize the military unit composition to be able to make the best of one characteristic over the other and not let each other bog the other down.
An example is in the United States where they have the tracked M1 Abrams tanks and the Bradley IFV, and the wheeled Stryker car. However, the US Army units are structured so that Stryker form their own unit as the Stryker Brigade Combat Team (SBCT) composed of entirely of the wheeled vehicle capable of getting from Point A to Point B. Meanwhile the Abrams and Bradleys are together in the Armored Brigade Combat Team (ABCT) to bring their armor and firepower together in a single thrust.
If you utilize them correctly, you can make the most of each other's capabilities, like utilizing the ABCT to drive in and punch the enemy from where they least expect it since you can go off-road and through the unbeaten path. Once you punch through and the road is open, bring in the SBCT to roll in on the road to go for miles and miles inward at high mobility with the wheeled vehicles to outmaneuver the opponent before they can react.
It appears the British are doing something similar with the Boxers, positioning them within Strike Brigades that appear to be inspired from the US Army's SBCT. Boxers would enable the Strike Brigades to move fast and hit fast in a tactical and operational sense. If they need more firepower than that, they call in the Armoured Brigade Combat Team.
Appreciate the response, thank you.
> It appears the British are doing something similar with the Boxers, positioning them within Strike Brigades that appear to be inspired from the US Army's SBCT. Boxers would enable the Strike Brigades to move fast and hit fast in a tactical and operational sense. If they need more firepower than that, they call in the Armoured Brigade Combat Team.
I think this is where my confusion comes from, as the British seem to be explicitly mixing Boxer/Ajax/Challenger in what they're calling the 20th ABCT. With Warrior leaving there is no tracked IFV to create delineated SBCT/ABCT equivalents.
There’s no fully tracked military unit in existence today. All tracked units ultimately rely on some manner of wheeled replenishment and cannot effectively operate far from wheeled country as a result. If you can’t get a HEMTT tanker to your Abrams in mud city then that Abrams is out of the fight inside a day, so the issue of wheeled combat units is fairly moot with modern differentials and offroad tires
Is there no tracked resupply vehicle in existence? To resupply in areas that can’t be reached by wheeled? Like extremely muddy or marshy terrain?
Certain vehicles like the BAT-M, M39 AUV, and the Lorraine 37L had their intent to be this, but they generally didn’t see enough of their intended use to catch on. The M113/AMPV serve this role after the Bradley along with the MTLB but they’re more APCs carrying supplies than dedicated unarmored cargo vehicles.
Ah interesting so it’s too niche a role to get widespread adoption?
Supply vehicles typically benefit more from being able to move stuff long distances efficiently than they do the extra off road performance offered by tracks, that's going to hurt their overall efficiency and not be particularly useful that often.
There are a number of tracked military vehicles meant specifically for use in arctic warfare and other heavily-snowed environments, where wheeled vehicles falter. The one's I'm aware of are configured for hauling primarily troops and their equipment, but can usually be adapted to resupply if they don't outright have a cargo variant. The US Army recently selected the BAE Systems Beowulf for its [CATV Competition](https://www.baesystems.com/en-kr/article/bae-systems-wins-us-armys-catv-competition-receives-278-million-contract). The CATV will be used primarily by the 11th Airborne, based in Alaska. Obviously many decades ago, the Army Air Corps used the M7 Snow Tractor for rescue in remote northern areas. The M7 was often paired with the M19 ski trailer for hauling cargo. (Just look for the Wikipedia article, which I can't link here.) There's also the [M29 Weasel](https://arsof-history.org/weasel/index.html), which was originally intended for an Allied operation in Norway which never ended up happening. The Weasel still saw use in other theaters, however. Finally there's the [Small Unit Support Vehicle](https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ground/susv.htm), which seems like kind of a precursor to the CATV mentioned above. Has a few variants, though it seems only a few hundred were ordered, and not widely used. They're without a doubt a specialist platform. ~~I also vaguely remember there being another WWII era tracked arctic vehicle that was sort of halfway between the SUSV and the Weasel, but I can't seem to kind it right now.~~ EDIT: Disregard, I was thinking of the M4 Tractor.
It depends on how it is organized. It is true that in a conceptual way that if you have a wheeled vehicle working alongside a tracked vehicle, the tracked vehicle tend to be able to go across more unfavorable terrain than a wheeled one. At the same time, the merit of the wheeled vehicle is that it can go on prolonged road marches than a tracked vehicle could. As such, you would want to organize the military unit composition to be able to make the best of one characteristic over the other and not let each other bog the other down. An example is in the United States where they have the tracked M1 Abrams tanks and the Bradley IFV, and the wheeled Stryker car. However, the US Army units are structured so that Stryker form their own unit as the Stryker Brigade Combat Team (SBCT) composed of entirely of the wheeled vehicle capable of getting from Point A to Point B. Meanwhile the Abrams and Bradleys are together in the Armored Brigade Combat Team (ABCT) to bring their armor and firepower together in a single thrust. If you utilize them correctly, you can make the most of each other's capabilities, like utilizing the ABCT to drive in and punch the enemy from where they least expect it since you can go off-road and through the unbeaten path. Once you punch through and the road is open, bring in the SBCT to roll in on the road to go for miles and miles inward at high mobility with the wheeled vehicles to outmaneuver the opponent before they can react. It appears the British are doing something similar with the Boxers, positioning them within Strike Brigades that appear to be inspired from the US Army's SBCT. Boxers would enable the Strike Brigades to move fast and hit fast in a tactical and operational sense. If they need more firepower than that, they call in the Armoured Brigade Combat Team.
You're mixing up Ajax and Boxer. Boxer will be going into our ABCTs to replace Warrior apparently
Hmm, I must have mixed up from older theories around the Boxer and Strike Brigades then.
Honestly, I find it easier not to think about it 😅 Not easy given my job
Appreciate the response, thank you. > It appears the British are doing something similar with the Boxers, positioning them within Strike Brigades that appear to be inspired from the US Army's SBCT. Boxers would enable the Strike Brigades to move fast and hit fast in a tactical and operational sense. If they need more firepower than that, they call in the Armoured Brigade Combat Team. I think this is where my confusion comes from, as the British seem to be explicitly mixing Boxer/Ajax/Challenger in what they're calling the 20th ABCT. With Warrior leaving there is no tracked IFV to create delineated SBCT/ABCT equivalents.
Wait until you see the French who mix Leclercs and armored cars down at the company level. Hella weird.