THE NEW DORNIER FOLDABLE BRIDGE DOFB

摘要

Troop mobility is a critical point in all phases of a military operation. The mobility requirements to be fulfilled by the vehicles employed have continously increased. However even for modern vehicles, high mobility becomes useless when natural or man-made gaps and destroyed bridges cannot be overcome. For this reason, bridging equipment such as mobile bridges have to be taken into consideration when planning military missions. Basically, it can be stated that tactical requirements with regard to the mobility of transportable bridges, on the road and in the terrain, have become increasingly important. The same applies to the requirements with regard to shorter construction times because of the troops' increased moving speed. The example of the Dornier Foldable Bridge (DoFB) system described in the following shows how the two requirments, high mobility of the bridge system and short launching time, which initially appeared to be contradictory, could be fulfilled by optimizing the bridge components. At the same time, the mobility-increasing features of the bridge are represented.