WFEL secures £37m Swiss order
MILITARY bridge maker WFEL has agreed a £37m contract with the Swiss army.
The Stockport manufacturer will supply its latest dry support bridge (DSB), which can span a 46-metre gap in 90 minutes, until the end of 2016.
The deal is an extension of an earlier £57m contract agreed in December 2011.
WFEL’S dry support bridge, manufactured at Crossley Park industrial estate, has been used by US armed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan and has also been sold to Turkey.
Chief executive Ian Wilson said: “This is a landmark order and further endorsement of our dry support bridge and its unique capabilities in both military and disaster relief operations. The feedback we received following the order was a testament to the quality of our work.
“The DSB is an advanced, next-generation system that can be deployed rapidly by soldiers, capabilities it has demonstrated in Iraq and Afghanistan. It continues to generate interest from armed forces across the world looking to invest in bridging assets for use on combat operations and during national emergencies and disasters. It is now the most widely adopted system of its type.”
WFEL, which has annual sales of £40m, was originally a defence engineering business stablished in 1915. It has been designing and manufacturing tactical military bridges in Stockport since the 1970s and was acquired by the German defence group KMW last year.
