The Czechoslovak Group (CSG) announced in a press release issued this Monday that in recent months it has sold several dozen bridge-laying vehicles for a total value of over $50 million (€43 million) to a total of five customers in Europe, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. The countries involved were not named individually, but the vehicles were identified as the AM-50 EX and AM-70 EX. CSG regards the orders as confirmation of a growing global demand for specialized pioneer vehicles.
The original version of the AM-50 was developed in the 1960s for the Czechoslovak armed forces. Mounted on an 8×8 Tatra 813 chassis, the loaded 24.45-tonne system can lay a folding bridge with a 50-ton load capacity, which in transport configuration is eight meters long and 3.13 meters wide, deployed 13.5 meters long and 4.21 meters wide. Up to eight segments can be connected to form a total length of 108 meters. The first model featured an unarmored cab with NBC-protection ventilation for a crew of five.
Bridge-laying AM-50 EX and AM-70 EX
The propulsion was provided by a V12 diesel engine of the type Tatra 930-17 with 250 PS for a top speed of 80 km/h on the road and 30 km/h off-road. The system is now used not only in the Czech Republic and Slovakia but also by India, Pakistan, and Vietnam. The modern AM-50 EX version uses the Tatra 815-7 chassis with an optional NATO STANAG 4569 Level 2-protected crew cab against small-arms fire, a modernized hydraulic system, automatically adjustable supports, and a dozer blade. The required crew is now only three men.
The propulsion is now provided by a Tatra T3C-928.90 diesel engine with 400 PS for a top speed of 90 km/h on the road and 40 km/h off-road. The road range is over 500 kilometers; the vehicle is capable of fording water depths of up to 1.5 meters and can handle ditches up to two meters wide as well as slopes with a 25-degree incline and a 20-degree cross-slope. CSG’s subsidiary Excalibur Army also developed the AM-70 EX with a total weight of 33 tons and an increased bridge-load capacity to 70 tons, which is fully backward-compatible with the older systems.
