The M60 Armored Vehicle Launched Bridge (AVLB) is an

armored vehicle Military vehicles are commonly armoured (or armored; see spelling differences) to withstand the impact of shrapnel, bullets, shells, rockets, and missiles, protecting the personnel inside from enemy fire. Such vehicles include armoured ...

based on the

M60 Patton The M60 is an American second-generation main battle tank (MBT). It was officially standardized as the Tank, Combat, Full Tracked: 105-mm Gun, M60 in March 1959. Although developed from the M48 Patton, the M60 tank series was never officially ...

main battle tank A main battle tank (MBT), also known as a battle tank or universal tank, is a tank that fills the role of armor-protected direct fire and maneuver in many modern armies. Cold War-era development of more powerful engines, better suspension sys ...

's hull and used for the launching and retrieval of a scissors-type

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually someth ...

. The AVLB consists of three major sections: the launcher, the vehicle hull, and the bridge. The M60 AVLB or Armored Vehicle Launched Bridge was introduced in 1963. This combat engineer vehicle was developed by the US Army Engineer Research & Development Laboratories under contract with General Dynamics to replace the previous M48 AVLB. It was designed to launch bridge for tanks and other wheeled combat vehicles across trenches and water obstacles in combat conditions. A total of 400 armored bridge launchers and bridges were built. 125 M60 AVLBs of all variants were constructed.

Design

Development

In the early 1950s, the prototypes for US military Armored Vehicle-Launched Bridge (AVLB) were based on the M48A2 hull. This AVLB prototype launcher assembly used an M48 tank with its turret removed from the chassis, fitted with a launching system for the scissors bridge carried on top of the hull. This AVLB bridge launching system was designed and tested by the US Army Engineer Research & Development Laboratories at Ft. Belvoir, Virginia. After the 1959 end of production of the M48, the chassis of the similar M60 was used, with 400 launcher assemblies and bridge units produced from 1958 to 1963. Many of these early bridge launcher units were later exported to Israel after the conclusion of the Vietnam War.

Description

The M60 AVLB is based on the M60 or the M60A1 hulls. Initial construction of the M60 AVLB was from 1963 to 1967. Most of the hulls for the M60A1 AVLB were former M60A2 Pattons converted to AVLBs from 1987 to 1996. All AVLBs were constructed at the

Anniston Army Depot Anniston Army Depot (ANAD) is a major United States Army facility for the production and repair of ground combat vehicles, overhaul of Small Arms Weapon Systems and the storage of chemical weapons, a.k.a. the Anniston Chemical Activity. The depo ...

, Alabama under contract with

General Dynamics Land Systems General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS) is a manufacturer of military vehicles such as tanks and lighter armored fighting vehicles. History In February 1982 Chrysler announced the sale of Chrysler Defense, its profitable defense subsidiary, to G ...

. The driver and commander are seated side by side in what would normally be the turret ring. Instead of a turret, launching equipment for a scissor bridge is fitted. The scissor bridge is carried in folded position on top of the chassis and the hydraulics for the launcher installed in the former driver's compartment. It is launched towards the front by means of a hydraulic launching arm. The driver has controls to launch and retrieve the bridge. The launching arm features a large bar that features as an outrigger during emplacement. After assault force vehicles have passed over the bridge, the AVLB can cross over, pick up the bridge on the far bank and continue along in support of assault forces. It can produce a limited smokescreen by dumping raw diesel fuel into the exhaust system to visually obscure the area around the vehicle. The smokescreen does not provide protection against infrared, thermal or laser detection. The vehicle does not provide full NBC protection to the crew. M60 AVLM firing M58 MICLIC

The vehicle itself is unarmed; however, the crewmembers are typically armed with assault rifles (

M16 The M16 rifle (officially designated Rifle, Caliber 5.56 mm, M16) is a family of military rifles adapted from the ArmaLite AR-15 rifle for the United States military. The original M16 rifle was a 5.56×45mm automatic rifle with a 20-roun ...

or M4), pistols, flares, and/or colored smoke grenades. The M60 AVLM carries up to two M58 Mine Clearing Line Charges mounted on the vehicle. The system consists of an M147 firing kit, an M58A3 line charge and a 5-inch MK22 Mod 4 rocket. The line charge is 350 feet long and contains five pounds per linear foot of C-4 explosive. In the event a MICLIC fails to detonate normally, it can be manually activated by time-delay fuses every few feet along its length. The modification of the AVLB into an AVLM is a temporary expedient, to employ the system the vehicle cannot be carrying a bridge.

Bridge assembly

There were two bridge configurations, formally referred to as a Bridge, Armored-Vehicle Launched: Scissoring Type that were to be carried on the Patton chassis. The scissors-type bridge weights over 13 000 kg, is made of aluminum and can be deployed under armor protection in 3 to 10 minutes, and retrieved and stowed in 10 minutes to an hour depending on terrain. The Military Load Classification (MLC) 60 bridge has sufficient capacity to support the M48 and M60 families of armored vehicles. The MLC 70 bridge supports the heavier M1 Abrams family of armored vehicles. An upgraded MLC70 bridge was developed for the AVLB during the 1990s at

(ANAD). The bridge conversion added stronger materials. After a round of testing in 2012, the MLC 70 was reclassified to the MLC 85. 217 of these bridges were in U.S. inventory as of 2017.

Service history

United States

Since its introduction in service in 1963, the M60 AVLB has supported the armored forces of the US Army and Marine Corps in many conflicts and military exercises. It was also exported to a handful of nations that also used the Patton series of tanks. Both the M48 AVLB and the M60 AVLB variants were deployed to

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making ...

During the Cold War, the M60A1 AVLB was deployed to

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 ...

with US Army Combat Engineer units in support of

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two N ...

, notably during annual REFORGER exercises through 1991. The US Army retired the M60 AVLB from combat use in 2003 and has been superseded by the M104 Wolverine. As of 2018 the vehicle is still in service with the

Army National Guard The Army National Guard (ARNG), in conjunction with the Air National Guard, is an organized militia force and a federal military reserve force of the United States Army. They are simultaneously part of two different organizations: the Army N ...

. The

US Marines The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through comb ...

received their first M60A1 AVLBs in the late 1980s. They have been deployed with Marines Corps armored divisions during Operation Desert Storm in Kuwait and Iraq in 1990 and 2003 Iraq War as well as Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. As of 2009, the Marines had an inventory of 55 bridges and 37 launchers in service. The M60-based AVLB has been found to be inadequate to support the

M1 Abrams The M1 Abrams is a third-generation American main battle tank designed by Chrysler Defense (now General Dynamics Land Systems) and named for General Creighton Abrams. Conceived for modern armored ground warfare and now one of the heaviest t ...

tanks and

M2 Bradley The M2 Bradley, or Bradley IFV, is an American infantry fighting vehicle that is a member of the Bradley Fighting Vehicle family. It is manufactured by BAE Systems Land & Armaments, which was formerly United Defense. The Bradley is designed ...

armored vehicles, and its age is making it difficult to maintain and sustain with parts becoming obsolete. Furthermore, the

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

has determined that the M104 Wolverine is too costly to operate and maintain causing its production to be suspended. Both the Army and Marine Corps are planning to replace the vehicles with the M1074 Joint Assault Bridge (JABS). The JAB also has a faster deployment time, with a set-up of three minutes compared to AVLB's ten-minute set-up. First deliveries are planned in mid-2017, with low-rate initial production expected to be reached in 2019.

Israel

The IDF refers to the AVLB as the Tagash. The first armored bridge layers to enter service with the

Israel Defense Force The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branch ...

were constructed from captured Jordanian M48s. The United States supplied launcher and bridge assemblies for the AVLBs through the 1970s. They were mated to M48 and M60 series hulls by Israeli Military Industries TAAS Slavin Plant. The Tagash AVLB has supported the IDF in the

Yom Kippur War The Yom Kippur War, also known as the Ramadan War, the October War, the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, or the Fourth Arab–Israeli War, was an armed conflict fought from October 6 to 25, 1973 between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by E ...

1982 Lebanon War The 1982 Lebanon War, dubbed Operation Peace for Galilee ( he, מבצע שלום הגליל, or מבצע של"ג ''Mivtsa Shlom HaGalil'' or ''Mivtsa Sheleg'') by the Israeli government, later known in Israel as the Lebanon War or the First L ...

2006 Lebanon War The 2006 Lebanon War, also called the 2006 Israel–Hezbollah War and known in Lebanon as the July War ( ar, حرب تموز, ''Ḥarb Tammūz'') and in Israel as the Second Lebanon War ( he, מלחמת לבנון השנייה, ''Milhemet Leva ...

and the 2014 Israel-Gaza Conflict. The IDF continues to use the M60A1-based bridge layers except with modifications. Vehicle modifications included new all-steel Merkava tracks and drive sprockets, although some vehicles continue to use the original T142 track. Due to the growing use of a number of trenches in fortifications and the greater number of natural narrower obstacles rather than larger ones, a tandem assembly bridge called the Tzmed or tandem was engineered. Two bridge sections can be fitted to any M60 AVLB system without any modification to the launcher. The main advantage to an up-and-out system compared to a horizontal system is the reduced mechanical complexity. The Tzmed assembly also enables the AVLB to bridge gaps in which the elevation of the opposing bank and the bridge itself, when laid out, is steep. The Tzmed assembly weighs in at only 13.5 tons with two bridge sections.

Other users

The Spanish Army began the Programa Coraza – 2000 (Program Armor – 2000) in March 1995 to modernize and update its armor forces. One of its goals is the development of a new armored vehicle launching bridge (AVLB), based on the M60A1 chassis and equipped with the new MLC 70 class Leguan bridge, which is capable of supporting the

Leopard 2 The Leopard 2 is a 3rd generation main battle tank originally developed by Krauss-Maffei in the 1970s for the West German army. The tank first entered service in 1979 and succeeded the earlier Leopard 1 as the main battle tank of the West Ger ...

A5 tanks, as well as any other tanks and armored vehicles in the Spanish inventory. For the time being in close liaison with Engineers at the Army Logistics Command has contracted for an initial 12 vehicles. They are still in service with a few other countries including

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of th ...

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

and

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

Specification

:NSN 5420-00-889-2020 / NIIN 008892020 : Armored Vehicle Launched Bridge (AVLB), M60A1 :Manufacturer:

(ANAD) :Contractor:

Division :Power plant: AVDS-1790-2DA 12-cylinder diesel engine :Power train: CD-850-6A 2 speeds forward, 1 reverse :Introduction date: February 1987 :Unit Replacement Cost: $749,000 without bridge

M60A1 AVLB Hull and Launcher

:Weight, combat loaded: 53.3 tons, 67.9 tons with MLC60 bridge :Armor: Upper Hull Glacis M60A1: 4.29 in (109 mm) at 65° - 10.15 in (258 mm) LoS :Ground clearance: 18 inches (45.7 centimeters) :Length: 31 feet (9.44 meters) :Width: 12 feet (3.66 meters) :Maximum speed (governed): 30 miles/hour (48.3 km/h) :Cross country speed: 8–12 miles/hour (12–19 km/h) :Trench crossing: 8.5 feet (2.59 meters) :Range: 290 miles (464 kilometers) :Fuel capacity: :Crew: 2 enlisted

Bridge, Armored-Vehicle Launched: Scissoring Type MLC60

:Length, extended: 63 feet (19.19 meters) :Length, folded: 32 feet (9.75 meters) :Bridge span: 60 feet (18.28 meters) :Width, overall: 13.1 feet (3.99 meters) :Width, roadway: 12.5 feet (3.81 meters) :Width, treadway: 5.75 feet (1.75 meters) :Height, unfolded: 3.1 feet (0.94 meters) :Weight: 14.65 tons (13.28 metric tons)

Variants

* M48 AVLB- Early models were based on the M48A2 Patton chassis. Some foreign M48 chassis, namely Israel, have been converted as well. * M60 AVLB – AVLB with scissors bridge and launcher mated to the M60 hull * M60A1 AVLB – version mated to the M60A1 hull * M60 / M60A1 AVLM- M60 or M60A1 Armored Vehicle Launched Bridge (AVLB) with up to 2 vehicle mounted MICLICs.

Operators

* : 10× M60A1 Tagash AVLB in service with

Israeli Army The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branch ...

* : 12 M60A1 AVLB in service with the

Pakistan Army The Pakistan Army (, ) is the land service branch of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The roots of its modern existence trace back to the British Indian Army that ceased to exist following the Partition of British India, which occurred as a result ...

as of 2013 *: 4× M60 AVLB in service with

Portuguese Army The Portuguese Army ( pt, Exército Português) is the land component of the Armed Forces of Portugal and is also its largest branch. It is charged with the defence of Portugal, in co-operation with other branches of the Armed Forces. With it ...

* : 12× M60 AVLB in service with

Singapore Army The Singapore Army is the land service branch of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF). The largest of the four branches of the SAF, the Singapore Army traces its origins to the 1st Battalion, Singapore Infantry Regiment (1 SIR), which was formed ...

* : 15× M60A1 AVLB in service with

Spanish Army The Spanish Army ( es, Ejército de Tierra, lit=Land Army) is the terrestrial army of the Spanish Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is one of the oldest active armies — dating back to the late 15th century. The ...

* :

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, ...

retired combat use 2003; superseded by M104 Wolverine, in service with the

and 37 in service with the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through c ...

as of 2009. To be replaced by the M1074 Joint Assault Bridge starting 2019.

Former operators

* : 12 M60 AVLBs retired from service in 2015. Replaced with

Panzerschnellbrücke Leguan BridgeLayer.

Tanks of comparable role, performance and era

*MTU-72 Armored Vehicle Launched Bridge – Russian AVLB based on the

T-72 The T-72 is a family of Soviet/Russian main battle tanks that entered production in 1969. The T-72 was a development of the T-64, which was troubled by high costs and its reliance on immature developmental technology. About 25,000 T-72 tanks h ...

hull *Chieftain AVLB (ChAVLB) – British AVLB based on the Chieftain MBT hull *Tagash Armored Bridge Layer – Israeli modified variant based on M48A2/M60 hull

References

External links

Global Security's page on the M60A1 AVLB

Marine Corps description
{{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 Armoured vehicle-launched bridges Cold War armored fighting vehicles of the United States General Dynamics land vehicles Military vehicles introduced in the 1960s