Frag Out! Magazine
Issue link: https://fragout.uberflip.com/i/713424
Engineers of Puma abandoned the idea of torsion bars that took up the space in the hull and caused the risk of hitting the crew with fragments of the bars after driving onto a mine or IED – the blow changes them into secondary pro- jectiles. Instead of that solution, they decided to apply Hortsman hydropneu- matic suspension. Actuators provide good suspension of the hull (the total pitch of load-bearing wheels is 450 mm) and suppress vibrations during off-road. The ride height is 450 mm for both armor configurations. Prototypes of Puma had 10 pairs of dou- ble-disc drive wheels, five on each side. Pre-serial vehicles had also one more pair, since it was decided that such a system will provide better distribu- tion of vehicle weight and will improve traction properties. Near each control arm, there is a hydraulic deflection lim- it. Upper arms of each caterpillar track is supported by 3 supporting rollers. Drive wheels are located at the front of the hull. At the back, there are tension wheels with an automatic mechanism adjusting the tension of the caterpillar tracks. The used tracks are 500mm wide Diehl DLT 464C copular tracks. Links have replaceable rubber pads that de- crease the level of noise and vibrations when driving the vehicle. Parameters of the chassis provide Puma with high off- road reliability. VEHICLES