This week, a NATO Amphibious Assault Exercise took part in the Baltic Sea in Germany. From the 8 min mark you can see Turkish Zaha AAV. I fell instandly in love with this and will check if it can be converted from an AAVP-7 kit.
2 Likes
1 Like
Are those vehicles making smoke or just really dirty to operate? I also wonder why the tracks are so narrow.
Steadfast Dart. Steadfast is fixed or unchanging or faithful. A dart is something you throw or to move quickly. Someone did not quite think that one through.
1 Like
I think it is the same width tracks as on the LVTP-7 / AAVP-7
or rather the same/similar ratio between vehicle width and track width.
I think they look like the later track shoes for Bradley and AAVP-7
The chosen track width depends on a number of requirements:
Wide tracks make it harder to steer.
Wide tracks have a lower ground pressure (psi)
Wide tracks are heavier than narrow tracks.
The ground pressure follows from the length (on ground) and width of the
track (length x width = contact area), the total vehicle weight (pounds) is divided by the
contact area (square inches or si) to get the psi value.
There is no point in adding wider and heavier tracks if the requirement on
maximum psi can be achieved with narrower tracks.
Random information:
The ground pressure of the BV 206 is roughly equivalent to a cross country skier.
Trying to walk in those tracks in deep snow can land you in hip deep snow.
On the other hand: the tracks cover two thirds of the vehicle width …
2 Likes
You are probably right but the tracks on many vehicles look too narrow to me. I know engineers calculate ground pressure when designing such vehicles. I know tracked armored personnel carriers are generally on the light side. Even so, I feel like some more track would increase flotation over difficult ground like sand. It is probably a concession to vehicle width, weight, and/or fuel economy.
1 Like
Choices, choices, choices
what is a poor engineer to
do when the requirements
pull in different directions.
Oy Vey, oy vey , …
1 Like
Random information:
The ground pressure of the BV 206 is roughly equivalent to a cross country skier.
Trying to walk in those tracks in deep snow can land you in hip deep snow.
On the other hand: the tracks cover two thirds of the vehicle width …
Been there
2 Likes
Just a question I’ve never worked on these before but the tracks look like Bradley tracks. Am I right in this observation.
2 Likes
FNSS company is one of largest Turkish defense companies. They started license-building M113´s and having now an impressive portfolio of military vehicles. I think they used components of the AAV-7 for the Zaha.
4 Likes
The base vehicle is an AAV-7 which they added extra armor onto.
Yes they are Bradley T157I tracks. The AAV-7 uses Bradley tracks and running gear.
1 Like
Reminds me of the Assault Amphibious Vehicle Survivability Upgrade package, work on which was cancelled in 2018
H.P.
4 Likes