Bridge Launch Technology for Ultra Lightweight Combat Vehicles

Lightweight combat vehicles will capable of traversing off road / trail and cross country mission profiles at a significantly higher speed than other vehicles in the arsenal.This places the burden of traversing obstacles such as blown out bridges, canals / dikes and rivers or tributaries on the lightweight vehicle systems themselves. Traditional systems such as the M-60 AVLB with its bridging element will not be able to maintain pace with these lightweight vehicles due to the severe mis-match of size, weight, speed, and transportability between the M-60 AVLB and an Ultralight Combat Vehicle.The GS Engineering system will both launch and recover the bridge, but also (optionally) transport the bridge system within the confines of the V-22 or CH-47 Air Transport window. The launch system will interface with the vehicle directly to the vehicles frame. The GS Engineering system will allow for the deployment of the self-contained bridge as well as give the same vehicle the ability to pick up and transport additional bridges. This design will also allow for a more efficient interface as far as transmitted loads into the bridge as well as into the vehicle through the use of multiple load paths.