The German and British procurement agencies have signed a contract, valued over EUR 450 million, with Europe’s Organization for Joint Armament Cooperation (OCCAR) through which they jointly acquire the latest generation of M3 amphibious bridging and ferry capabilities from General Dynamics European Land Systems (GDELS) – Bridge Systems in Kaiserslautern, GDELS announced on 30 October.
The binational Wide Wet Gap Crossing (WWGC) programme “invigorates the longstanding collaboration between the two largest European NATO contributors, who received their last M3 vehicles after the end of the Cold War in 1999” GDELS stated.
The WWGC programme will give the British and German armies additional flexibility, enabling rapid deployment and manoeuvrability across challenging terrain in both combat and disaster response scenarios.
The foundation of the WWGC programme is the latest and most advanced version of the M3 bridging vehicle. Known as the M3S (or Sweden M3), this will include new features and functionalities,an improved human-machine interface, enhanced reliability and system safety, as well as optimised through-live support costs.
Furthermore, the new M3 fleets of Germany and the UK will not only be fully interoperable with other users’ M3 systems and with GDELS’ Standard Ribbon Bridge, Floating Support Bridge and Improved Ribbon Bridge systems, but will be interchangeable, “thus signifying a quantum leap in military mobility”. GDELS asserted.
The M3 amphibious bridge and ferry system is billed by GDELS as the fastest available means for wet gap crossing within NATO. It can be used as a floating bridge or ferry to allow even the heaviest main battle tanks to negotiate wide wet gaps.
The all-terrain M3 is ready for use within minutes, which GDELS noted is “a vital factor on today’s transparent battlefield”, and has proven itself in use under a wide range of climatic and topographical conditions.
More than 90% of all NATO amphibious bridging capabilities are currently supplied by GDELS.
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