Pontoon Bridge - Modern Use

Modern Use

Pontoons were extensively used by both the armies and civilians throughout the first half of the 20th century and both World Wars, particularly on the Eastern Front by the Red Army which developed fast assault pontoon bridging techniques to facilitate their offensive operations.

The longest military pontoon bridge ever constructed across a river was built in 1995 by the 502nd and 38th Engineer Companies of the US Army's 130th Engineer Brigade, as part of IFOR. It was assembled under adverse weather conditions across the Sava near Županja (between Croatia and Bosnia), and had a total length of 2,034 feet (620 m). It was disassembled in 1996.

Modern variants of the pontoon bridge are still essential and in use by modern armies. As an example, the American Army has developed a version dubbed the "Assault Float Ribbon Bridge". It was constructed during combat by the 299th Multi-role Bridge Company, USAR on the Euphrates River at Objective Peach near Al Musayib on the night of 3 April 2003. "By dawn on 4 April 2003, the 299th Engineer Company had emplaced a 185-meter long Assault Float Bridge - the first time in history that a bridge of its type was built in combat." This took place during the 2003 invasion of Iraq by American and British forces. The 185-meter Assault Float Bridge was built to support retrograde operations because of the heavy-armor traffic crossing a partially destroyed highway span. That same night, the 299th also constructed a 40-metre (130 ft) single-story Medium Girder Bridge to patch the damage done to the highway span. The 299th was part of the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division as they crossed the border into Iraq on 20 March 2003. Examples of the construction and use of pontoon bridges during combat operations date back through World War II and earlier.