October 24, 2006 Need a bridge? Like really urgently? The army often needs such a capability and when the need is great, there’s always a way. The PSB2 offers the latest generation of modular bridging capability combined with maximum mobility and minimum overall costs. The PSB2 is operated by a crew of two and can carry loads of military weight class MLC 70 for tracked vehicles and up to MLC 100 for wheeled vehicles. Thanks to an optronics observation, driving and range-finding system as well as an IR imager, laser and CCD camera, a bridge can be launched day or night under tank protection. The special advantage of the modular concept lies in the numerous bridging solutions that can be carried. The Rapid Bridge Launcher 2 carries three modules each 9.7m in length. Each individual module can overcome most obstacles, as statistics show that 80 percent of them are less than nine meters long.
Beginning with a LEOPARD 2 chassis the components of the launching equipment – laying arm, laying-arm tilt cylinder, swing arm and trough – form a parallelogram that can be run out with a swivel cylinder. The bridge ends are automatically linked, ensuring full bending resistance, when the bridge tips are coupled. When the ramp wedges are set up, the ramp plates are simultaneously raised.
