Development
With the introduction of the Leopard 1 and the requirement to use the chassis as a base, the company developed MaK in the 1960s for the army for a successor to the American Brückenlegepanzer A2 M48 Armored Vehicle Launched Bridge (AVLB).Total MaK delivered in the years 1973 to 1975 as a general contractor 105 Brückenlegepanzer the tank sapper companies of the Bundeswehr .
General
The armored vehicle launched bridge with the eponymous tank Quick Bridge Beaver is designed to overcome in battle, depending on soil conditions and terrain cuts like waters and canyons to 20 meters wide. The tanks fly bridge is 22 meters long, 4 meters wide, and can be interpreted within 2 to 8 minutes under armor protection. Your weight is about 9.94 tons. The design is for the Military Load Class 60 and admitted to about 55 tons. The crew consists of two men, the driver and the commander. The Bridge Layer is unarmed, but has a smoke grenade .For rail transport, the bridge must be separated into two longitudinal halves. The tanks sapper companies of the Bundeswehr also feature a 3-axis flatbed trailer 15 tons of the company Kögel (Type 2300269) with special intermediate frame on which halved the tanks fly bridge (compact - like on the carrier vehicle), and disassembled (quartered) can be transported.
Laying operation
Unlike other bridge installers who move their bridge in the scissor method, the laying operation is carried out when the cantilever horizontal beaver. The advantage of this is to significantly lower laying silhouette, but this in turn must be paid for with a much more expensive equipment.In transport position, each 11 meters long bridge symmetrical halves are placed horizontally one above the other on the main and tail boom of the vehicle. For laying the two elements to be lifted and moved, the lower half of the bridge to the front. After connecting the entire fixed bridge is placed by the main boom over the obstacle. The inclusion of the bridge takes place in reverse order. During the laying operation, the entire load is resting on the support plate located at the bow, which increases the stability.