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The RE BR-90 family of bridges are built
from a range of seven modular panels of advanced aluminium alloy
fabrication.
These are interchangeable through the various bridge types, to form
two interconnecting trackways with a 4 m overall bridge width and a 1
m girder depth. BR90 is deployed with Royal Engineer units in both
Germany and the UK.
The production order was valued at approximately £140 million in 1993.
These bridges entered service from 1999, and comprise the following
elements:
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General Support Bridge
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Close Support Bridge
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Two Span Bridge
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Long Span Bridge
Close Support Bridge - This consists of three
tank-launched bridges capable of being carried on a tank bridgelayer and a
Tank Bridge Transporter truck.
There are three basic Tank Launched Bridges (also known as Close Support
or Assault Bridges): the No 10, No 11 and No 12.
General Support Bridge - This system utilises the Automated Bridge
Launching Equipment (ABLE) that is capable of launching bridges up to 44 m
in length. The ABLE vehicle is positioned with its rear pointing to the
gap to be crossed and a lightweight launch rail extended across the gap.
The bridge is then assembled and winched across the gap supported by the
rail, with sections added until the gap is crossed. Once the bridge has
crossed the gap the ABLE launch rail is recovered. A standard ABLE system
set consists of an ABLE vehicle and 2 x TBT carrying a 32 m bridge set. A
32 m bridge can be built by 10 men in about 25 minutes.
Spanning Systems - There are two basic spanning systems. The long
span system allows for lengthening a 32 m span to 44 m using ABLE and the
two span system allows 2 x 32 m bridge sets to be constructed by ABLE and
secured in the middle by piers or floating pontoons, crossing a gap of up
to 60 m.
BR-90 carrier - The Unipower 8x8 TBT is an improved mobility
transporter for the BR 90 bridging system.
It can carry one No 10 bridge
or two No 12 bridges.
The TBT can self load from, and off-load to, the
ground. The TBT task is to re-supply the Chieftain and Titan AVLB with
replacement bridges.
Photo Copyright
BAe Systems
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