WFEL will supply a number of its Dry Support Bridges (DSB) to the Philippine Army for use in Disaster Relief operational situations, as well as other military scenarios, under the Horizon 2 phase of the revised AFP Modernization Program. The DSB will be manufactured at WFEL’s production facility in Stockport, U.K. with delivery to begin during 2023.
The DSB systems can be deployed in around 90 minutes to provide temporary infrastructure and will be supplied with pedestrian walkways.
The Philippine Army, having a choice of launch vehicle chassis for its bridges, opted for the Rheinmetall MAN Military Vehicles (RMMV) 45m 10 x 10 systems.
An Integrated Logistics Support package is also included in the contract for this new Combat Engineering Equipment, ensuring back-up and support from WFEL’s Technical Engineering Teams and giving assurance of continued through-life support and spares availability.
“We warmly welcome the Philippine Army into our ever-growing user base of DSB Military Bridging Systems,” said Ian Anderton, WFEL’s Managing Director.
“We are proud of the fact that the DSB is the world’s most technically advanced, rapidly deployable military bridge of its type and has proven its worth in both Combat and Disaster Relief situations time after time.”
With a 120 tonnes Military Load Classification, the DSB was initially designed and developed by WFEL for the U.S. Army. Offering full interoperability with any other DSB bridging system, it has been adopted by various countries worldwide, including the U.S.A., Turkey and Australia. Switzerland has also acquired a number of DSB and has extensively deployed them as temporary infrastructure following flooding and other natural disasters.
The DSB is currently being evaluated by U.K. Ministry of Defence as a replacement for their BR90 bridging systems.