Engin de franchissement de l'avant
The Engin de franchissement de l'avant (short: EFA ) is a four-wheeled unarmed bridge vehicle that was developed and manufactured by the French companies CEFA (Chaudronnerie et forges d'Alsace) and Alstom DDF . It has been in use by the French armed forces since 1993 and replaced the outdated EWK Gillois vehicles. 30 units are currently used by France. A comparable rapid swimming bridge is the amphibian M3 , which is used by the Bundeswehr .
Working principle
The EFA can be used as a bridge, a ferry or a raft and allows the transport of vehicles up to a load class of MLC 70, or a maximum of MLC 80, which includes, for example, the transport of the Leclerc battle tank . When converting to the swimming configuration, the air cushions attached to the side are inflated. This process only takes a few minutes. The EFA has two hydraulic ramps, each 11.75 m long, which are attached to the front and rear. These ramps make it easier to drive up and down the vehicle to be transported, especially on steep banks.
ferry
A 96 m² transport area is available for ferry operation, which can be loaded with a maximum of MLC 70 vehicles. This means that an EFA unit can transport four Véhicule de l'avant blindé , three loaded trucks, two AMX-10s , one AMX-30 or one Leclerc battle tank to the opposite bank. A total of 10 currents are possible in one hour with a 100 m wide river. It is propelled in the water by two Schottel SPJ 55 propellers that can be rotated through 360 ° . The respective power per pump jet propeller is 110 kW.
- Total length (with extended ramps): 34.55 m
- Width: 7 m (with air cushions)
- Width of the lane: 4 m
- Loading area: 96 m²
bridge
Four EFA vehicles are required to build a continuous pontoon bridge over a 100 meter wide river . It can be set up in around 15 minutes. The individual vehicles are coupled to one another on the rear and front sides. The long side of the vehicle bridge is thus transverse to the direction of flow of the water. A total of around 200 vehicles per hour can cross the water in bridge operation. Here, too, the total weight of the vehicles to be crossed must not exceed MLC class 70.
- Length of a bridge module: 23.65 m
- Width of the lane: 4 m
Technical specifications
- Crew: 4 (commander, road driver, water driver, crew member)
- Length: 12.35 m
- Width: 3.60 m
- Height: 4 m
- Weight: 43 tons
- Range: approx. 600 km
- Speed overview:
- on the road: 75 km / h
- off-road: 16 km / h
- in the water: 3.8 m / s (unloaded) and 3.1 m / s (loaded with a vehicle of the load class MLC 70)
- Draft: 0.60 m (unloaded) and 1.20 m (loaded with a vehicle of load class MLC 70)
- Engine: Moteurs Baudouin turbodiesel; 535 kW at 2,700 rpm
