Workers work at an e-waste collection center in Ploufragan, western France. Photo: AFP/VNA According to the European Union (EU) funded CEWASTE e-waste report, circuit boards, magnets in drives and electric vehicles, batteries and fluorescent lamps are among the items containing important raw materials. , including gold, silver and cobalt, can be recycled and reused. However, these rare materials often make up a very small percentage of each item thrown away, making them often overlooked. For example, the report estimates that by 2025, discarded fluorescent lamps in Europe will contain 92 tonnes of vital raw materials. Printed circuit boards in the region’s e-waste could contain up to 41 tons of silver and 10 tons of gold by 2025. Meanwhile, Europe’s supply chains have become “too vulnerable”, especially is the defense industry, as noted by Mr. Pascal Leroy – one of the authors of the report. The production of items in Europe, from computer systems to drones, is largely dependent on external supplies. As a result, the report highlights that recycling e-waste will help protect vital supplies for consumer electronics and even the European defense industry. In addition, with the materials needed to make wind turbines and electric cars, items that are discarded if recycled also play an important role in meeting climate change and environmental goals. improve the competitiveness of the manufacturing industry. The report also highlights some types of e-waste that are said to have sufficient raw materials to be recycled and recovered. These include printed circuit board materials obtained from discarded electronic equipment; batteries from e-waste and scrap cars; neodymium iron boron magnets from the hard drives and motors of electric bicycles and scooters, and fluorescent powder from lamps and cathode ray tubes found in televisions and television screens. The researchers found that many raw materials have low value and are volatile, meaning that recycling them is considered too expensive for businesses. The report therefore calls for legislation on the recycling and reuse of critical raw materials, financing to support the recycling industry, and better control of shipments of waste. e-waste is transported out of the EU. According to the “Global Electronic Waste Monitoring 2020” report published by the United Nations (UN) in July last year, in 2019, there were a total of 53.6 million tons of e-waste worldwide. , up 21% from 5 years ago. In which, Asia is the largest producer with about 24.9 million tons, followed by the Americas 13.1 million tons and Europe 12 million tons. Meanwhile, the amount of e-waste in Africa and Oceania is 2.9 and 0.7 million tons, respectively. Of the more than 53 million tons of e-waste generated, only 17% of the waste is recycled, with the rest going to landfills, incineration or simply not being treated. This means that an amount of rare materials such as gold, silver … worth up to 55 billion USD “presents” in e-waste that has been thrown away or burned instead of being collected for treatment. and reuse. Meanwhile, the exploitation of raw materials has been promoted in many countries to create new products, causing environmental concerns.

Older UAV models such as the Qods Mohajer-6 developed in 2017, the Yasirr and HESA Karar reconnaissance UAVs, often used in firing drills, were also on display during this year’s parade. In addition to the domestically produced UAV collection, guided missile systems such as the Damavand long-range missile and the Zolfaqar short and low-range missile systems also appeared at the parade. Iran’s goal of becoming a UAV powerhouse in the region of Iran is significantly limited due to international sanctions. Iran relies heavily on copying foreign UAVs, collecting debris from neighboring countries or from UAVs shot down in Iran. UAVs are not the only sector where the defense industry has made progress in recent decades. Iran currently produces small weapons, aircraft warships, missiles … Among these, the ballistic missile program is a concern for Israel and the US. The US believes that Iran’s ballistic missile program should be limited like its nuclear program. However, Tehran asserted that its ballistic missile program poses no threat to the United States, due to its limited range.

During the development process, the defense industry in many countries around the world has produced many different types of weapons. They were particularly interested in the idea of ​​installing a powerful weapon on a light-wheeled armored chassis. This weapon is called a wheeled tank.

As a result of all the design effort intensified only in the second half of the 20th century, the wheeled tanks were practically created that were not inferior to the classic main tank on the engine. crawler department.

So what are the advantages and disadvantages of the above combat vehicles? The first issue to mention is that the wheeled tanks are relatively light and this simplifies the transport of equipment to the battlefield.

The mass of a light wheeled tank, even with additional armor plates, does not exceed 20-25 tons, much less than any other main tank. Therefore it is much easier to deploy wheeled tanks with heavy weapons.

The ability to deploy wheeled tanks by military transport aircraft is one of the main reasons why this vehicle is used, developed and served by many armies around the world.

In modern armed conflicts it was necessary to quickly bring equipment to a conflict zone and the military came to a sensible decision: light armored vehicles such as armored vehicles, infantry fighting vehicles and Wheeled tanks will be brought to the battlefield first.

Furthermore tanks and self-propelled artillery units can be moved to the battle site. As a result, armored vehicles, including wheeled tanks, are assigned the function of a highly mobile combat unit to support ground forces.

Not only that, the wheeled tank possesses a higher travel speed than the crawler tank, which gives the advantage of maneuverability and maneuverability, much less harm to the road surface.

The downside of the wheeled tank, though, is its poor off-roading capabilities. Such vehicles travel very quickly on asphalt and dirt roads, but on rough terrain they immediately lose to a track armored vehicle.

Another downside is the poor degree of self-protection. The wheeled tank is light, mainly because the armor is thin and weak, which means both advantages and disadvantages.

Wheeled tanks cannot be used in combat like the MBT, they are also unsuitable against the MBT, it is better suited to destroy light armored vehicles.

This combat vehicle is more suitable for areas not planning to use tanks on rough terrain and large-scale military operations are not carried out, it is more suitable for urban combat.

In real world use of the wheeled tank, its downsides were noted – the wheelbase did not turn out to have any particular advantage over a crawler vehicle.

In addition, the maximum speed advantage cannot be determined due to the lack of good roads, and when used on off-road, much worse off-roading is evident. In addition, tire wear while driving on complex terrain is much higher than expected.

Based on the advantages and disadvantages described above, it is easy to see that the tire tank cannot completely replace the MBT, as it lags far behind in some basic characteristics.

What the future of a wheeled tank will be, of course it will continue to evolve and improvements could go the way of enhancing protection, while maintaining a sufficiently light combat weight.

And of course, the reality of modern military conflicts will play a big role in shaping the look of a future wheeled tank.