Military Wiki
EFA
French army EFA DSC00859
The EFA folded into truck.
Place of origin France
Specifications

Armour none

The EFA or Engin de Franchissement de l'Avant (forward crossing apparatus) is a field-deployable river crossing apparatus, used by combat engineers in the French Army. It may either be used as a bridge (deployed in a series), or as a ferry.

Crew:The crew consists of four people:

  • 1 head gear
  • 1 driver
  • 1 pilot
  • 1 crewman

The EFA is the heir of the first self-propelled bridging vehicle invented in 1955 by the French military engineer and general Gillois Jean (born in Châteaubriant 1909). Tray Gillois entered service with the French army in 1965. A version modified by EWK was successively adopted by the American, British and German militaries. At the time of its introduction it was able to carry vehicles up to a maximum weight of 25 tons, the current version supports loads of about 50 tons. It takes between 45 and 65 minutes to form a bridge 100 meters long. Tray Gillois avoids the heavy and bulky convoys, barges brought in by road, which are sensitive to enemy attacks. It takes about half a day to create a 100 metre deck.

See also[]

  • Bailey bridge
  • Pontoon bridge
EFA 501607 fh000018

Deployed EFA

External links[]

All or a portion of this article consists of text from Wikipedia, and is therefore Creative Commons Licensed under GFDL.
The original article can be found at EFA (mobile bridge) and the edit history here.