MINDEN, Germany -- The United Kingdom's 35th and 75th Engineer Regiments demonstrated their gap-crossing capabilities along with Germany's 130th Heavy Engineer Battalion, for U.S. Army Europe leaders, June 16.
Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, commanding general, USAREUR, stated that the demonstration was "about cooperation and understanding capability" of allied engineers in order to further enable interoperability opportunities between the U.S. U.K. and Germany.
The demonstration began at Sennelager Engineer Training Area, near Paderborn, where the 35th Eng. Regt. showcased the armored maneuver support capabilities of the British Titan, Trojan and Terrier vehicles.
The Titan is an armored vehicle launched bridge with a military load class 85 for tracked vehicles and MLC 105 for wheeled vehicles, which is capable of supporting U.S. Abrahams tanks and Bradleys to cross wet or dry gaps up to 60 meters.
The Trojan and Terrier are the U.K.'s heavy and medium assault breaching and obstacle clearing vehicles, which are used to breach minefields, clear or construct tank ditches and execute survivability and counter-mobility digging tasks.
The demonstration continued with a display of the U.K.'s force support bridging assets. The smallest bridge was the infantry assault bridge, which can be transported by eight people, and span a gap up to 30 meters. Vehicle support capabilities included a medium girder over bridge, a general support bridge and a logistics support bridge.
The demonstration concluded at the Pioneerübungsplatz near Minden, where elements of the 75th Eng. Regt. and the 130th Eng. Bn. conducted a bridging and ferry exercise with both nations' M3 amphibious bridging vehicles on the Weser River.
"The U.K. and Germany have the same kit [M3]; we can work together, and it's important that we work together," said British Lt. Col Alan Mason, commander, 75th Eng. Regt.
The 75th and 130th also had their tracked engineer reconnaissance vehicle, roadway mat-laying vehicle, and specialized underwater engineer and explosive ordinance equipment on display. Subject matter experts were on hand from both nations to explain their equipment to the visiting USAREUR leaders.
According to Hodges, this bridging exercise at Minden exemplified NATO interoperability and exercises such as these "strengthen the fabric of the Engineer community across Europe."
U.K. and German engineers will participate in USAREUR's Exercise Anakonda 16 next summer.
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