The US Army has initiated a market research effort surveying industry for a new bridging system dubbed the Medium Assault Bridge (MAB).
Offered products in response to the questionnaire are to be of MLC 90 load bearing capacity, span gaps of 14 meters long and be at least 3,35 meters wide. Additionally the system also needs to be capable of operating from a fully autonomous or optionally manned platform that must be capably of deploying and retrieving the bridge within 5 minutes.
The requirements also state that the system is to have a strategic mobility similar to that of the Stryker Armored Personnel Carrier (APC).
The survey will likely inform follow-on efforts to field a platform. However, It remains unclear whether or not this will be in the form of an open competition or a sole-source selection effort.
The Medium Assault Brigade will be fielded with Infantry and Stryker Brigade Combat Teams formations in their support of Airborne and Joint Service strategic Large Scale Combat Operations (LSCO).
Interested parties have until the 1st December to submit their proposals.
Source; Medium Assault Bridge (MAB) from SAM.gov