Well, maybe better COIN vs peer. 

stancrist said:

Yes. Tracks were used in Vietnam and Afghanistan, for instance.

I think the simplified statement of graylion is valid.
Its not a 100 % thing. You are right. But in general wheeled vehicles are more attractive for COIN and LIC than they are for HIC. The change of mind of most militaries that concider wheeled vehicles fit for any purpose now occured after the end of the Cold War. It coincides with budget costs and the GWOT. IMHO its a direct reaction to the percieved change of environment and mission.
It has been discussed in this forum befor. One of the major mistakes made by the West after the end of the Cold War has been the self delusion that "the end of history" has been reached and the peace divident would last forever.
The "wheel fad" is just one result of that.

Wheels that swimm

It looks like Poland is looking at stretching their AMV -Rosomak to keep it swimming with all the added weight of the upgrades.

I am also wondering about scout vehicles. I agree with @Schnuersi that the Jaguar sets the standard at the moment, but it is still wheeled. One would need to think about a tracked version.

graylion said:

I am also wondering about scout vehicles. I agree with @Schnuersi that the Jaguar sets the standard at the moment, but it is still wheeled. One would need to think about a tracked version.

One point not adressed in the previous posts, is that it's better to have a wheeled vehicle "where you need it", than tracked vehicles "somewhere between the starting point and where you need them", because said vehicles needed to stop to cool tracks, rollers, broke something, or run out of gas.

Yes, wheeled vehicles can be stuck in difficult terrain, but that is also happening to tracked vehicles (you can even find videos of tracked vehicle stucked into difficult ground, to be hauled with a wheeled farm tractor), and in the long way you will probably have less wheeled vehicles stuck into mud, than tracked vehicles stopped due to part breakage.

And tracked vehicles are "orders of magnitude" noisier than wheeled vehicles, which is not really what you want for a scout.

It's not unusual to detect a tracked vehicle from a distance of more than 1 km, and at the same time miss a wheeled vehicle at 200 m.

graylion said:

I am kinda wondering, is wheels = LIC and tracks = HIC too simplistic?

I'd say it depends on terrain.

Cyprus, a place I've spent a fair amount of time, the most of the country is basically roads or sunbaked hard earth, with some impassible wooded mountains in the center. 

For HIC against a Turkish invasion, I'm hard pressed to think of many places there Tracks would be an advantage.

Whereas the greater speed / ability to self deploy / less maintenance of wheels would be a boon. 

...

I have never been to Japan or Taiwan, but I wonder whether due to their extreme urbanization if they too would be best with mostly wheeled vehicles for national defense? 

gatnerd said:

I have never been to Japan or Taiwan, but I wonder whether due to their extreme urbanization if they too would be best with mostly wheeled vehicles for national defense? 

I have read that both Japan and Italy favour wheeled AFVs because they have very long coastlines to defend, and the ability to self-deploy at high speed is valuable.

Thanks, thats what I had imagined. 

EmericD said:

1. One point not adressed in the previous posts, is that it's better to have a wheeled vehicle "where you need it", than tracked vehicles "somewhere between the starting point and where you need them", because said vehicles needed to stop to cool tracks, rollers, broke something, or run out of gas.
2. Yes, wheeled vehicles can be stuck in difficult terrain, but that is also happening to tracked vehicles (you can even find videos of tracked vehicle stucked into difficult ground, to be hauled with a wheeled farm tractor), and in the long way you will probably have less wheeled vehicles stuck into mud, than tracked vehicles stopped due to part breakage.
3. And tracked vehicles are "orders of magnitude" noisier than wheeled vehicles, which is not really what you want for a scout.

1) Hence low loaders

2) percentage game really

3) rubber tracks, which AFAIK these days work for everything but MBTs

graylion said:

1) Hence low loaders

So, you expect your tracked scout vehicle to "scout" while loaded on a truck?

During the French intervention in Mali, it was not unusual for the VBCI to cover 500 km in 10-12 hours (convoy escort, patrols), I don't think that a tracked vehicle could do that on its own.

graylion said:

2) percentage game really

But still funny.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hheLODstezM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFLtv2exMbU

graylion said:

3) rubber tracks, which AFAIK these days work for everything but MBTs

The noise difference between rubber tracked vehicles and wheeled vehicles of the same weight class is still impressive, and you still hear a tracked vehicle several hundred of meters before a wheeled vehicle.