WFEL, world leading supplier of rapidly deployable military bridges, has signed a contract with the Irish Defence Forces for the supply of the MGB Medium Girder Bridging System. The Irish Defence Forces have chosen the 31m double storey MGB variant, which can be erected in various configurations to cover the full range of military and emergency bridging requirements and will be supplied complete with handrails, making the system adaptable for use not only during military operations but also in Disaster Relief and Emergency scenarios, such as the severe flooding situations seen in Europe recently. The Irish Military have been users of WFEL’s MGB Medium Girder Bridging System since the late 1970s and are therefore already familiar with the many benefits of this versatile, modular bridging system. The Corps of Engineers – military engineering branch of the Defence Forces of Ireland – will take delivery of the new MGB bridging.
Tom Winney, Business Development Director at WFEL, said, “We are delighted to be working closely with the Irish Defence Force once again and refreshing their military bridging stocks with the latest MGB systems, to provide vital engineer capabilities. We are seeing increased interest in our MGB bridging systems worldwide, due to their modular and versatile nature, as forces worldwide recognise the need for rapid gap-crossing capability to ensure unrestricted manoeuvre for vehicles of up to 70 tonnes.”
Colonel Damian McEvoy, Director of Engineering for the Irish Defence Forces, said, “As long-time users of the Medium Girder Bridge system, we are already familiar with its many benefits and, by updating our bridging assets with the latest version of the MGB, we will continue to be equipped with the most versatile, modular bridging system available, allowing our Engineering Division to rapidly react to situations both on and off the battlefield. Of particular importance to us is the lightweight nature of the MGB system, not only for reducing transportation weight, but to enable the bridge components to be handled by our troops without the need for mechanical aids”.
The Corps is responsible for combat engineering and construction engineering services, providing engineering on the battlefield and has successfully leveraged its skill and expertise in several of the Irish Army’s deployments on United Nations operations. With over 500 systems already supplied to militaries around the world, the MGB modular military bridging system provides interoperability with any other MGB of any age and is already adopted by many NATO members. A full support and training package is included in the contract and the Irish Defence Forces can expect delivery of their new bridging assets by the end of 2023. WFEL is currently supplying 17 Sets of its MGB Medium Girder Bridges to the UK MoD, following a review of the MoD’s modular gap crossing capabilities, which aimed to draw together existing in-service capabilities into a single coherent capability. One of the key criteria for this contract was the fact that the MGB system can be configured in several different ways to provide flexibility to the Commander on the ground.
WFEL’s range of rapidly deployable mobile bridging systems – Medium Girder Bridge and the Dry Support Bridge – provide unrestricted manoeuvre capability and interoperability, can be deployed in minutes and have been used by coalition forces on operations worldwide and in civilian aid operations in disaster zones around the world, being in service with the British Army, U.S. Army and many other NATO forces. Manually built and semi-automated bridge variants are available, offering up to 120 MLC and integrated onto a variety of both tracked and wheeled military vehicle platforms. WFEL is a long-established Prime Contractor to both the UK Ministry of Defence and U.S Department of Defense and operates a global sales network through overseas representatives and works directly with international governments and Non-Governmental Organisations.