In ancient Chinese mythology, the image of Nezha carrying a fire-pointed spear in his hand and riding on a hot fire wheel is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Especially the Hot Wheels, which can carry people and carry things, make people think a lot.

In the world of weapons, trucks act as "hot wheels" on the battlefield in a sense. As the performance of trucks improves, it becomes more and more versatile and is increasingly valued by the militaries of various countries.
In the second half of last year, the Czech Army received three T815-7 military trucks from Tatra Truck Company. These are the last three of the 209 tactical trucks ordered by the Czech Ministry of Defense for the Army in 2022.
Not long ago, three French companies delivered another batch of Griffon multi-purpose armored vehicles and "Puma" armored reconnaissance vehicles to the French General Administration of Arms, marking new progress in the country's "Scorpion Project." It is worth noting that the chassis of these two types of armored vehicles are the same truck chassis, which embodies the usual "one fish to eat more" idea in the design and production of truck chassis.
Currently, it has become a trend for civilian trucks to transform into military trucks, and truck chassis to expand into special vehicles such as armored vehicles, radar vehicles, command vehicles, rocket launcher vehicles, and anti-aircraft weapon tractor/launch vehicles. So why does the truck have such potential? What is the past, present and future of military trucks? Please see the relevant interpretation.
During the war, trucks became an important transportation force
After the second industrial revolution, a large number of mechanized weapons and equipment came out one after another, and war gradually entered the mechanized era.
In 1886, German engineer Karl Benz built the first car in human history, opening a new era in the history of transportation. However, the performance of early cars lagged behind, even inferior to horse-drawn carriages. Until the outbreak of World War I, the armies of various countries still relied on animal power to a large extent for short-distance transportation.
After the outbreak of World War I, the increasingly deteriorating battlefield environment highlighted the limitations of using animal power. It became increasingly difficult for horses to haul heavy equipment such as artillery through the mud. So the trucks started rolling into the battlefield.
Among the countries participating in the war, the British army's trucks grew faster. At the beginning of the war, the British army only had a few dozen trucks. By the end of World War I, the British army had nearly 60,000 trucks, with more than 700 registered truck models. France, Germany, the United States and other countries have also developed and produced a large number of trucks, which has effectively improved the mobility and transportation capabilities of the army.
However, the First World War was the early stage of mechanized warfare, and the style of warfare was dominated by positional warfare marked by trenches, machine guns, and barbed wire. Under this combat style, countries' requirements for military mobility and transportation capabilities are not very high.
During World War II, the armies of many participating countries realized mechanization and motorization. Trucks became an important means of transportation for most of the warring countries, and their use was unprecedented.
Nazi Germany successively developed and equipped the Krupp L2H43 light truck for transporting troops and towing light anti-tank guns, the Borgward B300A medium truck for transporting personnel and materials and towing artillery, and the B300A medium-sized truck for driving in complex terrain. Deutz A300, Mercedes L4500R and other half-track trucks, Krupp L3H163, MAN ML4500A, Mercedes L4500A heavy-duty trucks used to perform a variety of transportation tasks, and the widely used Opel "Lightning" Trucks etc. During the war, these trucks undertook the task of transporting materials needed by the German army to implement the "Blitzkrieg", helping it once take the initiative on the battlefield.
The Soviet Union equipped 150,000 GAZ-AA trucks before World War II. After the outbreak of World War II, Soviet army trucks suffered heavy losses. Due to metal shortages, in 1942, the Soviet Union began to produce a simplified version of the GAZ-MM truck. The car has a canvas cab, angular fenders, no rearview mirrors, and only brakes on the rear wheels. These two types of trucks were the most equipped trucks by the Soviet army at that time. They were not only used for transportation, but also for towing light artillery.
Due to the limited load capacity of the GAZ-AA truck, the Soviet Union developed the GAZ-5 truck with a load capacity of 3 tons for heavy cargo transportation.
In addition to domestic production, the Soviet army also obtained some foreign trucks through the Lend-Lease Act, such as the American Stypunkt US-6. Stypunk US-6 is a three-axle truck equipped with a 95-horsepower six-cylinder engine. It adopts an all-metal cockpit and can drive on roads with poor road conditions. The Soviet army also used the vehicle as a chassis to create equipment such as the "Katyusha" rocket launcher.
At the beginning of World War II, although the United States chose to remain neutral, it continued to manufacture new high-capacity trucks and improve its military mobility and logistics capabilities. The more representative one is the CCKW-353 military truck. This type of truck has good off-road performance, is sturdy and durable, and is easy to repair. It later spawned many other improved models. After the outbreak of the Pacific War, the car was mass-produced. Before the end of World War II, 800,000 vehicles had been produced.
During this period, military trucks were mainly used to transport troops, supplies and tow weapons, and their positioning as "an important transportation force on the land battlefield" was established.
Continuous empowerment, from improving transportation capacity to acting as a "mount"
After World War II, military trucks continued to develop. Its role has also gradually expanded from its initial focus on transportation to carrying large loads and shuttling on the battlefield as a weapon "mount". During this period, the development of military trucks had the following characteristics:
If you can run well, you will have stronger cross-country ability. As the pace of war accelerates, it places higher demands on the military's mobile transportation capabilities. In order to adapt to changes, military trucks from various countries are "hardly practicing" the "special skill" of land transportation.
Take the American Navistar 5000 heavy-duty truck as an example. Its maximum cargo capacity is 35 tons. It has strong climbing, side slope driving, deep ditch crossing and water wading capabilities. The maximum highway speed is about 90 kilometers per hour. , with a cruising range of more than 450 kilometers.
Russia's BAZ-6402 tractor is highly maneuverable and can ford water to a depth of more than 1 meter. As a tractor towing a special semi-trailer for the S-400 air defense missile system, it can also be used as a semi-trailer to tow air defense radars and other special equipment.
Start "pairing" with more heavy firepower. In this regard, wheeled self-propelled howitzers, namely truck guns, are more representative. Simply put, the truck gun is a fusion design that allows the towed howitzer to be mounted on a military truck chassis, thereby obtaining an artillery system with greater mobility and a higher degree of automation.
The first-generation "Caesar" launched by France in 1994, the second-generation "Caesar" developed after entering the 21st century, and the "Archer" launched by Sweden are all representative modern truck guns. Take the "Archer" truck gun as an example. Its maximum rate of fire can reach 3 rounds in 13 seconds. When firing continuously at targets within 25 kilometers, multiple rounds can land simultaneously. When firing at a target 40 kilometers away, the deviation does not exceed 12 meters.
In addition to truck guns, military trucks are also "paired" with other heavy firepower. In August 2022, British media revealed that the United Kingdom designed a short-range air defense missile vehicle by installing an ASRAAM short-range infrared air defense missile launch station on the back of a Supacat HMT truck. The vehicle has a total weight of 10.5 tons, a maximum road speed of 120 kilometers per hour, and a maximum driving range of 700 kilometers.
More and more other loads are coming aboard. Special vehicles with cranes, rescue vehicles with maintenance equipment, radar trucks... As more loads are "mounted" on the truck chassis with increasingly improved performance, the saying "a truck is a basket, anything can be put in it" Also given more new content. In May 2022, an Austrian company displayed a medium-sized rescue vehicle designed for the Austrian Army. This type of rescue vehicle is based on an off-road truck chassis, and its biggest feature is that it can be loaded. In addition to the cab, it is not only equipped with a hydraulic traction bracket, winch, loading crane, but also a storage bin with a payload of 2 tons. From the composition and characteristics of this type of rescue vehicle, we can roughly see the increasingly broad application prospects of military trucks.
Multi-dimensional development will be more deeply integrated into the modern battlefield
War confrontations will become more intense in the future, and resource consumption will increase accordingly. With the development of military technology, military trucks will most likely continue to develop in multiple dimensions and be more deeply integrated into the modern battlefield, with some significant changes occurring in the following aspects.

The performance of military trucks will be more advanced. There are many ways to improve the performance of military trucks, including improving power, increasing transportation capacity, and enhancing concealment of operations. It is said that the U.S. Army has started a project called "Hybrid Vehicle Test and Evaluation" to study ways and means of converting military trucks from traditional power to new energy. The series of vehicles represented by the Platform-O platform developed in Russia can tow equipment with a total weight of hundreds of tons and are more powerful. This series of vehicles uses an in-wheel motor as the drive unit, which not only improves the vehicle's maneuverability, but also allows it to drive more quietly. At the same time, some countries are still studying and improving the palletized transportation system of integrated self-loading and unloading transport vehicles, and improving the ability of military trucks to transport irregular goods through the rational use of standard pallets or standard containers.

Develop in the direction of unmanned and intelligent services. Unmanned weapons and equipment is a general trend, and military trucks are no exception. Germany's Rheinmetall's new generation 155mm vehicle-mounted howitzer uses the newly developed HX3 10×10 wheeled high-mobility military heavy-duty truck chassis to provide better shooting stability for the artillery. The gun truck not only uses a new unmanned turret and is equipped with a fully automatic ammunition loading system, but also can realize remote control gun shooting. Correspondingly, its truck chassis has also been modified accordingly.
In this regard, the United States has also taken frequent actions. The country is currently undergoing unmanned transformation based on the M1074 A1 pallet transport system, trying to achieve the purpose of transporting materials by organizing unmanned fleets by adding cameras, radars, etc. required for unmanned driving. According to foreign media reports, Oshkosh Corporation has been authorized to develop and produce this type of unmanned transportation vehicle.
The field of application will be broader. It can transport larger and heavier materials, can drive in worse road conditions, and can be used in more dangerous environments... As the performance of military trucks improves, they will be used in more and more places in the future. . The practices of many countries have shown that truck chassis are becoming the preferred "mounts" for more weapons. In July 2022, Poland signed a contract to purchase 24 "Baobab-K" mine-laying vehicles. This type of mine-laying vehicle uses an 8×8 truck chassis with a combat weight of 31.7 tons and a wading depth of 1.2 meters. It is equipped with a central tire inflation system and can be used in different terrain conditions. It can load 600 mines at a time and can be quickly deployed in 22 minutes. complete.
Relevant experts believe that these changes are just the "beginning" for military trucks to enter a period of rapid development again. As for how they will develop in the future, it remains to be seen.