Armored Rapid Bridge Iguana

Panzerschnellbrücke LEGUAN on Leopard-2 chassis at a demonstration by the Defense Technology Service for Pioneer and Troop Equipment (WTD 51), Koblenz of the Bundeswehr

The Iguana tank rapid bridge (spelled LEGUAN) is a bridge system offered by the arms company Krauss-Maffei Wegmann for overcoming obstacles. Developed by the subsidiary MAN Mobile Bridges GmbH, the system is in use worldwide and is used in the United States , Belgium , Finland , Switzerland , Sweden and Malaysia with various bridge-laying vehicles. In October 2016, the Bundeswehr ordered a first batch of seven complete systems that are to be delivered between 2018 and 2021. In December 2018 the Panzer Pioneer Battalion 130 was the first pioneer association in Germany to be equipped with the Iguana rapid-transit tank bridge. In July 2020, it was decided to procure a second batch of 24 Iguana bridges - including IT components, navigation systems, training equipment and spare parts - worth 330 million euros. The bridge laying system is a further development of the laying principle of the Biber rapid armored bridge .

General

The bridge system can be loaded onto various carrier vehicles. The bridge itself is made of an aluminum alloy with a width of 4.01 meters, a total length of 26 meters and a total weight of 10.5 tons. With the 26 m bridge, it is possible, depending on the nature of the terrain, to negotiate cuttings such as bodies of water and gorges up to 24 meters wide. In the case of larger obstacle widths, an overlapped installation is possible in which the bridge lengths are combined. Following improvements, the design is approved for the military load class (MLC) 80 or up to 72.6 tons for caterpillar vehicles and 83.5 tons for wheeled vehicles. Older bridges are approved as the maximum limit for the MLC 70. Using distance measuring devices , thermal imaging devices and CCD cameras, the laying process is also possible at night.

In addition to being used as a rapid armored bridge, pontoons can be used to build ferries of different load classes and connect them to floating bridges. Instead of the two-part 26-meter bridge, the system is also able to transport and lay two 14-meter-long single bridges.

Laying process

Swedish variant. Brobandvagn 120 with a coupled 26 m bridge. Sweden ordered a total of six bridge layers in 2014.

As with the Biber rapid-transit tank bridge , the laying process takes place horizontally in the open front structure. Compared to laying using the scissors method, this type of laying has the advantage of a significantly lower silhouette.

In the transport position, the symmetrical bridge halves of the 26 m version are each 13 m long and lie horizontally one above the other on the main and tail boom of the vehicle. To lay the two elements are lifted and the lower half of the bridge is moved forward. After connecting, the entire fixed bridge with the main boom is placed over the obstacle. The bridge is picked up in reverse order. During the laying process, the entire load rests on the support shield on the bow, which increases the stability of the laying vehicle. According to the manufacturer, laying and lifting for the 26 m bridge takes six or eight minutes and can also be carried out by one person thanks to an electronic control system. The 14 m bridge can be laid in around five minutes and resumed in seven minutes.

Carrier vehicles

Polish PMC iguana based on a PT-91M chassis

Krauss-Maffei Wegmann has loaded the bridge system onto a number of different carrier vehicles. The United States use the chassis of the M1 Abrams for their M104 Wolverine , Belgium a Leopard 1 chassis (bridge only up to MLC 70), Sweden and Finland a Leopard 2 chassis (converted Leopard 2A4 called Leopard 2L in Finland ) and the Malaysian Armed Forces chassis of the Polish PT-91 M (PMC-Iguana) main battle tank . The chassis of the M60 battle tank (Spain) and wheeled vehicles from MAN and the Finnish company SISU are also used. Other users of the system are Greece, the Netherlands, Norway, Singapore (Leopard 2), South Africa and Turkey. In December 2019 it was announced that the Danish armed forces had also ordered seven Iguana bridge laying systems on Leopard 2 chassis. Delivery of the bridge layers is scheduled to begin at the end of 2022.

The German armed forces have been testing the bridge system at Defense Technical Services 41 and 51 since 2009 with the aim of conducting the operational test on the first series vehicle in 2014. The Panzerschnellbrücke 2 project  , which was equipped with three bridges - the planned successor to the Biber rapid armored bridge - has since been discontinued. In October 2016, an initial order for seven complete systems was placed, each of which included a converted Leopard 2 tank from the Bundeswehr's inventory, a relocatable bridge 26 meters in length, two bridges each 14 meters in length and an additional transport system consisting of a protected one Tractor unit with semi-trailer, includes. A training simulator with operating elements is included for training the crews. When this first lot was ordered, the replacement of all 28 Biber armored bridge systems in the Bundeswehr's inventory (as of October 2016) was initiated.

Web links

• Internet presence of Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, LEGUAN bridge-laying tank in kmweg.de
• 60 seconds Bundeswehr: Iguana tank rapid bridge ( YouTube video, February 6, 2019)
• Panzerbaer.de with photos of the Belgian system in panzerbaer.de
• Bridge to go - An iguana for the Bundeswehr (October 18, 2018, YouTube video)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} BAAINBw PIZ AIN: New bridges for the German Army - contract for the LEGUAN system concluded. Federal Office for Equipment, Information Technology and Use of the Bundeswehr, October 27, 2016, accessed on November 1, 2016 . 
2. ↑ André Burdich: LEGUAN arrived at the pioneers . In: Pioneers . No. 1 , 2019, p. 20 .
3. ↑ One billion euros for procurement. In: European Security & Technology (ESuT). Mittler Report Verlag GmbH, July 3, 2020, accessed on July 4, 2020 . 
4. ↑ LEGUAN bridge laying system. In: kmweg.de. Krauss-Maffei Wegmann , accessed on February 15, 2013 . 
5. ↑ Carrier vehicle VLPD 26 / 70E. In: mde.es. Ejército de Tierra , archived from the original on January 23, 2013 ; Retrieved April 11, 2009 . 
6. ↑ Iguan battlefield bridges handed over to the Netherlands. In: esut.de. European Security & Technology, December 11, 2019, accessed December 15, 2019 . 
7. ↑ KMW is upgrading Norwegian bridge layers. (No longer available online.) Krauss-Maffei Wegmann , archived from the original on November 27, 2007 ; Retrieved April 11, 2009 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
8. ↑ Turkey purchases 36 LEGUAN bridge-laying tanks. (No longer available online.) In: kmweg.de. Krauss-Maffei Wegmann , formerly in the original ; Retrieved April 27, 2009 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.    
9. ↑ Denmark procures iguana bridges. In: hardthoehenkurier.de. Hardthöhenkurier.de, December 12, 2019, accessed December 15, 2019 . 
10. ^ Frank Lobitz: Leopard 2 battle tank. Development and use in the Bundeswehr. P. 140 Panzerschnellbrücke 2, Verlag Jochen Vollert-Tankograd Publishing, Erlangen 2009, ISBN 978-3-936519-08-2 .