British military bridge manufacturer WFEL is to supply a number of its Dry Support Bridges (DSB) to the Philippine Army under the Horizon 2 phase of the revised AFP Modernisation Programme.

According to the firm:

“The DSB systems can be deployed in around 90 minutes to provide temporary infrastructure and will be supplied with pedestrian walkways, for use in Disaster Relief operational situations, as well as other military scenarios. The Philippine Army, having a choice of launch vehicle chassis for its bridges, opted for the Rheinmetall MAN Military Vehicles (RMMV) 45m 10 x 10 systems.”

Intended for use by the Philippine Combat Engineers, the Dry Support Bridges will be manufactured at WFEL’s production facility in Stockport, UK; delivery will begin during 2023.

Ian Anderton, WFEL’s Managing Director, commented:

“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.”

The firm say that the system has been adopted by various countries worldwide, including USA, Turkey and Australia. Switzerland has also acquired a number of Dry Support Bridges and is known to have extensively deployed the DSB as temporary infrastructure following flooding and other natural disasters.

George Allison
George has a degree in Cyber Security from Glasgow Caledonian University and has a keen interest in naval and cyber security matters and has appeared on national radio and television to discuss current events. George is on Twitter at @geoallison

10 COMMENTS

  1. The Philippines is currently spending a lot on money on its military , orders made this year;
    18 Sabrah ASCOD 2 Light Tank
    10 Pandur II in tank destroyer format
    28 VBTP-MR Guarani
    6 FNSS Kunduz (AVRE)
    12 ATMOS 2000 (SPG)
    15 S-70s helicopters
    And as of the other day:
     12 Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70/72 fighters

      • David,
        The Philippines has a huge problem with Islamist separatists primarily on the Island of Mindanao who if you remember took over the city of Marawi only 4 years ago , during that crisis the army found it simply was prepared or equipped to take on the Islamists which saw troops on the ground up armouring their armour with wooden planks. The aim of the separatists is to cede from Manila and form their own wonderful pure Islamic state and if they managed to do that, then others would try to do the same (Looks at the Island of Jojo) on top of that the Philippines also has a communist problem who only 30 years ago occupied over a 5th of the country, So I suppose Manila sees homegrown issues as a much bigger problem than China (That said they did sign a deal with India to purchase a load of Brahmos anti ship missiles the other month

        • They already and will have so many different types of equipment. We are always told streamline equipment etc but they seem to do it as spread it out as much as possible. Must be fun in the spares dept

        • They have been arresting Chinese fishing boats and their crews when the Chinese Coastguard aren’t around. I think it was only last month that their foreign minister told China to basically F*** **f and stop fishing in their waters, or else. Not sure if the Philippines are no a position to back that up?

          • Not a big fan of ‘diplomatic’ language but he doesn’t sound like the smartest kid in class. ‘Speak loudly and carry a twig’

        • Thanks for that I remember it was a big issue and a lot of publicity about it a few years back but thought they’d got on top of it. Obviously not. But that means they’re not in a good position to stand up to China.

        • That is a fantastic heads up Farouk… one question, who is funding the insurgents?

          How much does this divert attention from the SCS?

          I would suggest that the same hostile power is behind borh issues.

          Thanks, once more for the H.U.

    • Thanks Farouk. This expenditure is somewhat puzzling given that I can trace no record of post-WW2 conflict with a foreign power. What’s all this kit for? Prestige?

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