France receives upgraded motorised floating bridges

The Direction Générale de l’Armement (DGA), the French defence procurement agency, announced on its website on 6 May that it had received and delivered the first four upgraded Pont Flottant Motorisé (PFM) motorised floating bridges to the French Army in April.

The agency said the upgraded PFM F2 can be equipped with shorter ramps than the 36-year-old PFM F1 it replaces, allowing it to be transported by the same semi-trailer as the module rather than the previous two and to be deployed more quickly. The shorter ramps can handle military load class 40 (MLC40) vehicles weighing 35–40 tonnes.

The logistics tail has also been reduced, with two rather than the five semi-trailer trucks required for the PFM F1 sufficing to carry the parts of a motorised ferry capable of handling MLC40 vehicles. With a single remote-control console to power four new, more powerful engines, the ferry is more manoeuverable on the water.

The PFM F2 also has better land mobility, provided by new tractor trucks and the upgrade of the PFM F2 with new hydraulics and the addition of an engine to bring it up to existing civilian standards. Of the new trucks, 10 are armoured for better protection.

The PFM F2 retains the ability to handle MLC65-class vehicles by using long ramps and up to five modules.