The PM M71 is a

Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yug ...

(SFRJ) licence-built

pontoon bridge A pontoon bridge (or ponton bridge), also known as a floating bridge, uses float (nautical), floats or shallow-draft (hull), draft boats to support a continuous deck for pedestrian and vehicle travel. The buoyancy of the supports limits the maxi ...

of the Soviet

PMP Floating Bridge The PMP Floating Bridge (russian: Понтонно-мостовой парк, ПМП "pontoon / bridge park") is a type of mobile pontoon bridge designed by the Soviet Union after World War II. The bridge's design enables for a quick assembly of i ...

designed after the WWII. The PM M71 deployment process is the same as for Soviet PMP and was primary designed and used by

Yugoslav People's Army The Yugoslav People's Army (abbreviated as JNA/; Macedonian and sr-Cyrl-Latn, Југословенска народна армија, Jugoslovenska narodna armija; Croatian and bs, Jugoslavenska narodna armija; sl, Jugoslovanska ljudska a ...

. Development of the PM M71 began at the end of the 1960s in the MTRZ Sava Kovačević plant in

Tivat Tivat (, ) is a coastal town in southwest Montenegro, located in the Bay of Kotor. , its population was 9,367. Tivat is the centre of Tivat Municipality, which is the smallest municipality by area in Montenegro. Name In Serbian and Montenegrin l ...

, with the designation "Project 382". Production began in 1971 and deliveries were made to the Yugoslav People's Army throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Similar to the Soviet PMP, the PM M71 initially used Yugoslav-made

FAP 2220 FAP may refer to: Technology and industry * FORTRAN Assembly Program, the macro assembler for some IBM mainframe computers * Fair Access Policy, a term for a bandwidth cap, limiting Internet usage * Femtocell (Femto Access Point), a small c ...

BDS/A trucks for transporting and FAP 1314 S/AV for towing and removing the RPP M68 tugboat. During the 1980s, the set was modernized with newer FAP 2026 BDS/A and FAP 2026 BS/AVG trucks. The PM M71 bridging set includes: *32 floating sections (pontoons), *4 abutment sections, *2 road covers, *12 RPP M68 tugboats, *38 FAP 2026 BDS/A trucks for transportation of the sections, *12 FAP 2026 BDS/AVG trucks for towing of tugboats, *other accompanying elements (boats, tools, accessories, etc.) The complete set of PM M71 equipment is used to construct 20 ton and 60 ton carrying capacity bridges and 20 ton up to 180 ton carrying capacity ferries. During Croatian army exercise Kupa 17, it was noted that a main battle tank can move at 30 km / h, with the distance of 30 meters between tanks across a deployed PM M71 bridge.

Usage

After the breakup of Yugoslavia, the PM M-71 was used in the Yugoslav Army,

Army of Republika Srpska The Army of Republika Srpska ( sr, Војска Републике Српске/Vojska Republike Srpske; ВРС/VRS), commonly referred to in English as the Bosnian Serb Army, was the military of Republika Srpska (RS), the self-proclaimed Serb ...

and the

Croatian Armed Forces The Armed Forces of the Republic of Croatia ( hr, Oružane snage Republike Hrvatske – OSRH) is the military service of Croatia. The President is the Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief, and exercises administrative powers in times of war by giv ...

. Currently, two pontoon battalions of the

River Flotilla of Serbian Armed Forces The Serbian River Flotilla ( sr, Речна флотила, Rečna flotila) is a tactical brigade-level brown water naval branch of the Serbian Armed Forces. Patroling on the Danube, Sava, and Tisa rivers, it is tasked with environmental policin ...

are equipped with the PM M71. File:PM M71 Floating Bridge.JPG, 4 floating sections connected in to ferry File:PM M71.JPG, 4 floating sections File:FAP 2026 BDS A.JPG, FAP 2026 BDS/A File:FAP 2026 BS AVG.JPG, FAP 2026 BDS/AVG File:RPP M68.jpg, RPP M68

References

{{Reflist
Komplet pontonskog mosta PM M71
Pontoon bridges Military equipment of Yugoslavia Military equipment of Serbia Military bridging equipment