Monday, September 3, 2012

Biber (beaver)

The beaver is an armored vehicle launched bridges from German production. It belongs to the group of combat support vehicles and is based on the chassis of the Leopard 1 .

Bridge Layer "beaver"
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Bridge Layer Tank with Quick bridge beaver
Main Features
Crew
2 (commander, driver)
Long
11.82 m (with link)
Width
4 m
Height
3,55 m
Mass
45.3 Tonnen
Armor and armament
Plating
up to 70 mm
Main armament
No, because Brückenlegepanzer
Secondary armament
Smoke grenade
Mobility
Drive
MTU MB 838 CA 500, 10 Zylinder,Mehrstoffmotor -Dieselmotor
830 PS (610 kW)
Suspension
Torsionsstab ( Leopard 1 Chassis)
Top speed
62 km / h (road)
Power / weight
18.35 PS / t


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.

Users

Apart from the German Bundeswehr armed forces use in Australia , Chile , Denmark , Italy (made 64 of OTO Melara), Canada , the Netherlands and Poland, the bridge layers. The total number amounted to 145 vehicles.

Future

With the combat efficiency of the Leopard 2 to A5, A6 of the bridge layers also come to its limits. The Bundeswehr replaced their bridge layers with the new armored Quick bridge 2 on the chassis of the Leopard 2.