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22 meters – An optimal measurement for tactical bridges

Interview with the two managing directors of General Dynamics European Land Systems (GDELS) Germany, Dr. Thomas Kauffman and Dr. Christian Kauth

March 31, 2023

Interview with the two managing directors of General Dynamics European Land Systems (GDELS) Germany, Dr. Thomas Kauffman and Dr. Christian Kauth

The war in Ukraine has now lasted a year. Especially with the offensives, but also with the defense efforts of the Ukrainians in the summer and autumn of 2022, it became clear that the fight for water will continue to be of great importance in the 21st century. The company General Dynamics European Land Systems (GDELS), which equips a large part of the European and NATO armed forces with different tactical bridge systems, has unique expertise in this field with its German subsidiary GDELS-Bridge Systems. ES&T spoke to the two managing directors of GDELS Germany about the capabilities of NATO in general and the Bundeswehr in particular to cross waters and about specific design features for efficient war bridges.

ES & T:Dr. Kauffmann, how do you rate the ability of NATO and the German armed forces to cross waters in the event of war?
merchant:The larger NATO partners usually have high-quality pioneering equipment for crossing waters, but almost always not in sufficient quantity. In the case of the European armed forces, the stock of floating bridges is still sufficient for a bridge length of a few hundred meters. With more than 2,000 bridge pontoons, the US Army still has significant capabilities, but only part of them in Europe. When one considers that much of the existing bridge and road infrastructure in Europe is not capable of carrying vehicles with a military load class of more than 50, it becomes clear that the rapid movement of mechanized forces on the European Alliance territory across waters represents a highly complex task.

The relevance of the topic is shown not least by the fact that NATO recently founded three "High Visibility Projects" on military mobility - one of them explicitly to improve joint gap-crossing capabilities. A corresponding letter of intent was signed in Brussels on February 15 by twelve members of the alliance, including Germany.

ES & T:In your opinion, where are the gaps and how can they be closed as quickly as possible?
merchant:Since the 1990s, all European and NATO countries have significantly reduced their bridging capacities. Pioneer bridges were considered an expendable resource, also against the background of the dominant deployments abroad. As a result, gaps exist today in both pontoon and amphibious systems and vehicle-supported bridges. In the short term, this critical capability gap could be closed, at least in part, by quick repairs and possible load capacity upgrades of the systems introduced; in the medium term, new procurements must be initiated consistently. GDELS offers marketable solutions in all three areas, such as the Improved Ribbon Bridge or IRB, the Amphibian M3 and the vehicle-supported Anaconda, which is based on the proven Biber armored rapid bridge.

ES & T:Dr. Kauth, to stay on the subject of rapid armored bridges: the market has several alternatives to GDELS solutions, which incidentally also have advantages in terms of length. So why should customers use your product?
Kauth:With the Anaconda, we offer a largely platform-independent system that can be integrated on a tracked chassis as well as an 8×8 truck. The need to change the chassis is minimal, which is reflected in significantly lower procurement and operating costs - keyword: logistical equality . We go one step further in separating mobility and functionality with our smaller bridges Python, Cobra and Viper. The bridge and laying system can be scaffolded on a combat vehicle, for example, within a short period of time. As soon as they are no longer needed, the module is removed and the carrier vehicle regains its original functionality. It is simply no longer up-to-date to use a high-quality carrier vehicle for just one task (bridge-layer).

From our point of view, multi-purpose platforms belong to the future.

With regard to the length, our many years of experience in close exchange with users, but also the topography, shows that 22 meters is an optimal length. This covers almost 90 percent of all obstacles in the European operational area that can be overcome with vehicle-supported, tactical bridges. At the same time, the bridges can be better integrated or transported on the carrier vehicle. In concrete terms, this means that with longer, vehicle-supported bridges of up to 30 meters in length, hardly more than 91 percent of the obstacles can be bridged. Here the law of diminishing marginal utility has full effect – the additional operational benefit of less than one percent in terms of possible obstacle bridging is more than marginal and bears no relation to the additional costs.

ES & T:In addition to the length, the load capacity and mobility of the bridge systems play an important role in determining the performance of a bridge, which is currently the subject of a very controversial discussion, especially in connection with the Army's "medium forces". How do you perceive the discussion and what do you think would be a suitable way of equipping this category of forces with the appropriate water crossing capabilities?
merchant:The decisive advantage of the medium-sized forces lies in their ability to be deployed quickly, i.e. their tactical and strategic mobility, due to their more compact design and lower vehicle weight. When it comes to equipping with bridges, this means consistently thinking ahead that bridge systems are procured that can be flexibly attached to medium-sized combat vehicles. Here, too, the principle of diminishing marginal utility must be taken into account: in addition to quality, we need quantity, and quantity, i.e. high numbers, can only be achieved with clever, economically competitive bridge solutions such as the modular Cobra, which has already been commissioned by the Dutch army and in cooperation with Rheinmetall was integrated into the Boxer.

For wider water obstacles, we also need fast and flexible amphibious bridge systems, since the success of a crossing today, as in the past, depends crucially on speed. We are therefore further developing our field-tested M3 into the new generation M3EVO.

ES & T:The strategic deployment capability of armed forces within Europe includes not only the ability of the troops to deploy themselves, but also transport on water, which also includes rivers and rails. What is the situation in this area? Do you have quick and easy solutions to offer?
Kauth:We have two types of mobile railway loading ramps in our portfolio - another resource that was neglected after the end of the Cold War, by the way. In a study commissioned by BAAINBw, we have proven that our ramps can be brought to a load class of at least MLC 85 with little effort and can therefore also carry the heaviest NATO battle tanks.

The deployment of armed forces on waterways over longer distances is not our profession. In the area of floating bridges, however, the Improved Ribbon Bridge and the future M3EVO will continue to clearly set the NATO standard. As is well known, Latvia, Sweden and Korea recently opted for the amphibian M3. And both floating bridges can also be used in ferry operations, which they have proven not only in classic crossing, but also in flood relief with the transport of sandbags and other material.

ES & T:Would these be purely proprietary solutions or are they also interoperable with other bridging solutions from allied forces?
Kauth:The Improved Ribbon Bridge is fully compatible with the previous models. We offer a coupling adapter for use with the Amphibian M3. Only improvised solutions exist with and between other NATO systems, such as simply laying the ramp on another bridge, which of course does not guarantee the same security and stability.

asked the questionsWaldemar Geiger.

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