Patria, a protection firm based mostly in Finland, has been awarded a recent contract by the Rear Command of the Finnish Protection Forces. The contract includes the transformation of Leopard 2A4 tanks into Leguan, a sort of self-propelled bridge. The expectation is to supply six of those specialised machines, with the supply anticipated to happen between 2026 and 2028.
The deal is valued at 23.6 million euros [excluding taxes]. As reported by the Spanish portal Infodefense, this isn’t the primary time that the Finnish military has positioned orders for self-propelled bridges on tracked chassis; they did so beforehand throughout the intervals of 2005-2008 and 2018-2022.
As highlighted by the portal, the Leopard 2A4 for use within the manufacturing of those self-propelled bridges shall be sourced from Finland’s personal reserves. The supply schedule can also be contingent upon how swiftly the KNDS conglomerate can manufacture the foldable bridges, which shall be subsequently hooked up to the tank chassis.
Moreover, the Leguan, based mostly on its options, can both deploy a single 26-meter bridge or two bridges measuring 12 meters every.
100 tanks
An attention-grabbing paradox has been identified by numerous Ukrainian sources, said the present literature. It seems that the neighboring nation to the Russian Federation, an space that has been subjected to direct threats from the Kremlin and is the hub of the brand new Leningrad Army District, appears to have an extra of tanks. These tanks have the potential to be modified into self-propelled chain bridges. Intriguingly, the phrases of their settlement prolong to a delay interval of 2-4 years.
The 2023 Army Steadiness information offers a additional glimpse into the army prowess of the Finnish armed forces. Their arsenal contains 100 Leopard 2A4 tanks, held in reserve, and 100 Leopard 2A6 tanks that are actively deployed in fight items. Moreover, the engineering unit is supplied with 9 SISU Leguan self-propelled bridges.
Ukraine is sad
One would possibly surprise if the Finnish army command believes that repurposing a few of their tanks into engineering automobiles wouldn’t essentially impression the protection steadiness. This intriguing query was posed by the Ukrainian media.
Following this line of thought, the media then queried, “Why hasn’t Finland found and donated a few ‘spare’ tanks to Ukraine?” They raised this subject within the context of Finland’s restrained contribution throughout the ‘tank coalition’ geared in the direction of supporting Ukraine’s armed forces. As a substitute of precise tanks, Finland merely supplied a number of Leopard 2R engineering machines.
Leguan bridge
The Leguan bridge layer system is meticulously designed to supply flexibility in configuration. It might probably adapt to kind two 26m bridges accommodating a most width of 40m. Or alternatively, it may well form into two 14m bridges that cater to a most width of 20m.
When this technique is supplied with a 26m bridge and a 14m bridge, it turns into adept at bridging obstacles of as much as 32m. Remarkably, the bridge transition from 26m to 14m requires no further attachments, illustrating its ease of use and practicality.
When it comes to dimensions, this bridge layer boasts an impressively compact dimension: 15m in size, with a width and peak of 4 meters every. Every part of the Leguan options interconnected plates, every being 1.55m broad. When paired collectively, these sections create a mixed width of 4 meters.
Operation of the bridge layer is ingeniously easy, requiring only one handler. Whether or not it’s the motive force or the commander, they’ll successfully lay the bridge. They utilizing the supplied management parts and a user-friendly graphical person interface [GUI].
The Leguan bridge system comes pre-installed with a self-diagnostic program, contributing to its excessive reliability. Extra so, it incorporates a horizontal laying know-how that ensures a minimal silhouette throughout missions, selling each stealth and effectivity.
***
Observe us all over the place and at any time. BulgarianMilitary.com has responsive design and you’ll open the web page from any laptop, cellular units or net browsers. For extra up-to-date information, observe our Google News, YouTube, Reddit, LinkedIn, Twitter and Fb pages. Our requirements: Manifesto & moral ideas.
