Philippines to receive new Dry Support Bridges from UK' WFEL by 2023

 

A WFEL Dry Support Birdge system using a Rheinmetall MAN Military Vehicles 10 x 10 platform. Photo c/o Australian Defence Magazine.

The Philippine Army (PA) has procured a number of Dry Support Bridges (DSBs) from British military bridging systems manufacturer WFEL.

This was confirmed by WFEL in a press release in June 2021, which also mentioned that the military bridges were acquired under the Horizon 2 phase of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Modernization Program.

The new DSBs can be deployed within 90 minutes to provide temporary bridging infrastructure in support of military operations, and can also be used for disaster relief operations.

It also has a 120 tons Military Load Classification, which would allow supporting heavy military and civilian vehicles including main battle tanks and engineering equipment.

The Philippine Army chose the Rheinmetall MAN Military Vehicles (RMMV) 45m 10 x 10 system, as the DSB system can be mounted on a choice of select military heavy vehicles.

The new DSBs will be manufactured at WFEL's production facility in Stockport, UK, and would be delivered by 2023. These would  be equipping the Philippine Army's Combat Engineering units.

According to Filipino defense page MaxDefense Philippines in its report on February 2021, the DSBs were acquired through Government-to-Government (G2G) arrangement with the British Ministry of Defence (MOD), with the project awarded to WFEL on January 2021.

MaxDefense Philippines also confirmed that the decision to acquire these bridges were in anticipation of the Philippine Army acquiring heavier military equipment in the near future, and was made a priority after the Battle of Marawi City against ISIS-inspired terrorists where the lack of mobile bridges made it more difficult for the Philippine security forces to liberate the city.

WFEL's Managing Director Mr. Ian Anderton said "We warmly welcome the Philippine Army into our ever-growing user base of DSB Military Bridging Systems. We are proud of the fact that the Dry Support Bridge 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.

"By adopting the Dry Support Bridge, the Philippine Army is ensuring it has the future capability to quickly manoeuvre across wet and dry gaps in complex, physical terrain, including man-made gaps, ravines and rivers, as efficiently as possible and under the widest possible operational scenarios."

 

[1] WFEL
[2] MaxDefense Philippines
[3] Philippine Defense Resource