The Indian Army has inducted the first production lot of 12 10m-Short Span Bridging System (SSBS) during a ceremony held at Cariappa Parade Ground, Delhi Cantonment, New Delhi.
The bridging system has been designed and developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation’s (DRDO) premier engineering laboratory Research & Development Establishment (Engrs).
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The Indian Ministry of Defence (MoD) said that L&T is serving as the production agency.
The 12 bridges are part of 102 10m-SSBS to be delivered by L&T.
The SSBS project involved the development of two prototypes of 5m SSBS on Tatra 6×6 chassis and two prototypes of 10m SSBS on Tatra 8×8 re-engineered chassis.
Both the 5m and 10m SSBS systems have undergone rigorous Directorate General of Quality Assurance (DGQA), MET and user trials.
The systems completed all these trials and were recommended for induction into the services.
Designed to offer a fully decked 4m-wide roadway, the 10m SSBS system helps fill gaps of up to 9.5m as a single span for rapid movement of troops.
It is suitable for use with a 75m Sarvatra bridging system, where the last span requires less than 9.5m covering gaps.
The deployed bridge has MLC 70 load classification and will also support resource deployment.
Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said the induction will ‘give a boost to the fast-growing Indian defence industrial ecosystem and help the industry to contribute towards ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’’.
Late last month, the ministry announced the test-firing of a new generation advanced ballistic missile variant, Agni-P (Prime).
