KMW Upgrades Norwegian Bridgelayers

Krauss-Maffei Wegmann , MUNICH: Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) has received a contract from the Norwegian Ministry of Defence for the upgrade of its LEGUAN bridgelaying systems. A 9 Mio. EUR contract was recently signed by the Director of the Norwegian Defence Procurement Agency, Brigadier General Asle J. Kjelsberg, and KMW Managing Director, Dr. Martin Menrath. 
 
These systems produced by KMW and successfully in service since 1988 are scheduled to go through a comprehensive modernization programme that will be specially focused on the fitment of a new electronic control system for the laying equipment. This will keep the Norwegian armed forces at the latest state of the art in this capability segment and will ensure logistic support for the bridgelayers. 
 
The LEGUAN bridge has a length of 26 metres and is designed for MLC 70. The bridgelaying operation is fully automatic and, as for the recovery operation, requires less than 8 minutes with the Norwegian wheeled vehicle version. The numerous user countries of the LEGUAN, in addition to Norway, include Finland, Singapore, Greece, Belgium, the United States, South Africa and Spain. 
 
Krauss-Maffei Wegmann is Europe’s market leader for armored wheeled and tracked vehicles. At production sites in Germany, Greece, the Netherlands and the United States, a workforce of 2,800 manufactures and supports a product range extending from airportable and highly protected wheeled vehicles to reconnaissance, air defense and artillery systems, all the way to heavy battle tanks, armored infantry fighting vehicles and bridgelaying systems. 
 
Moreover, KMW has comprehensive system expertise in the area of commercial and military simulation as well as command and control systems and remote-controlled gun mounts with reconnaissance and observation equipment for day-time and night-time missions. The armed forces of more than 30 nations worldwide rely on KMW’s operational systems.