Manufacturer wins £50m Australian army order
MILITARY bridge manufacturer WFEL has secured contracts worth £53m with the Australian armed forces.
The deal for the Stockport-based company, now owned by German defence firm Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, comprises two contracts which were won after an international tender.
It will see WFEL supply its leading Medium Girder Bridges (MGBs) and Dry Support Bridges (DSBs) to the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The bridges provide temporary infrastructure and have the potential to be used in combat situations and in the event of natural disasters. Delivery will begin by Q3 of 2017.
Long-serving WFEL chief executive Ian Wilson said: “This is another major contract for us and one which extends our long-standing relationship with the ADF.
“Our Dry Support Bridge is the world’s most technically-advanced, rapidly-deployable military bridge of its type, while the Medium Girder Bridge’s modular design continues to prove its worth in both combat and natural disaster relief situations time and again. By choosing to order both bridge types, the ADF is ensuring it has the future capability to quickly cross physical terrain as complex as rivers, ravines and man-made gaps as efficiently as possible and under the widest possible operational scenarios.
“As the leading tactical military bridge maker globally, we continue to work to provide solutions for established customers like the ADF, as well as building relationships in emerging markets across the world.”
The DSB – of which over 130 systems have been sold – is already in use with the US, Swiss and Turkish armed forces and has been used as temporary infrastructure in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Major Ben Bridge of the Australia Defence Force said: “The contract award to WFEL will greatly enhance the Australian Army’s ability to manoeuvre across wet and dry gaps in complex terrain. While the MGB is replacing an earlier version of the same bridge which entered service decades ago, the Dry Support Bridge capability is new to the Australian Army and will provide our manoeuvre commanders with the ability to cross significant wet or dry gaps in a fraction of the time it would have previously taken.”
WFEL traces its roots as a defence engineering business back to 1915. It has been designing and manufacturing tactical military bridges in Stockport since the 1970s.
