Forget a bridge too far. German tank maker Krauss-Maffei Wegmann has a solution when the bridge is not there.
Enter the Stryker Launched Assault Bridge, an aluminum bridge designed to enable tactical vehicles with little or no gap-crossing capabilities to keep rolling in the face of short divides that otherwise might keep them sidelined.
A scale model and video depicting the bridge vehicle was on display this month at the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual exhibition in Washington, DC.
The bridge is 12 meters long and able to make passable a gap up to 11 meters. As the vehicle name indicates, the bridge is carried atop of Stryker vehicle. Hydraulic arms at the front position and launch the bridge and are able to have it in place within two minutes, according to the manufacturer.
According to the design specs, the bridge would accommodate vehicles up to 40 tons.
Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, or KMW, is a major European manufacture of tanks and other tracked vehicles, including the line of Leopard tanks that have been used by the German army since the 1970s.
--Bryant Jordan can be reached at bryant.jordan@military.com. Follow him on Twitter at @bryantjordan.
