The PMP Floating Bridge (russian: Понтонно-мостовой парк, ПМП "pontoon / bridge park") is a type of mobile

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 ...

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The bridge's design enables for a quick assembly of its parts. It has a carrying capacity of 60 tons. The bridge was originally mounted on a

KrAZ-214 The KrAZ-214 is an off-road truck 6x6 for extreme operations.Н. Чистов. Модернизированный КрАЗ // "За рулём", № 10, октябрь 1961. стр.14 It was manufactured at the YaMZ plant from 1956-1959, after whi ...

, but later transferred to a

KrAZ-255 The KrAZ-255 is a Ukrainian (formerly Soviet) three-axle off-road truck with six-wheel drive (6 × 6), intended for extreme operations. It was manufactured at the KrAZ plant beginning from 1967. The KrAZ-255 was developed directly from its p ...

. During the process of its deployment, a truck carrying the bridge is backed alongside the edge of a body of water. The bridge is then rolled off where it unfolds automatically. The bridge spans 382 metres, load capacity 20 tons, or 227 m, load capacity 60 tons, with 32 river pontoons, 12 bridging boats and four shore pontoons. The PMP was superseded by the PPS-84 and later the PP-91 bridge system after the breakup of the Soviet Union. The designation PP stands for "Pontoon Park" and can be assembled into a group of rafts or a bridge spanning up to with a capacity from 90 to 360 tons. The system employs 15 ton Ural-53236 trucks and BMK-225 bridging boats. The latest variant of the PP-91 system is the PP-2005 which uses KamAZ 63501 trucks and BMK-MT motorboats.

References

Pontoon bridges Military equipment of the Soviet Union Military bridging equipment Portable bridges {{bridge-struct-stub

See also

References