Watch the Army Deploy a Floating, Foldable Bridge

When the Army is conducting operations overseas, they often need a bridge where there isn't one. Fortunately, the United States Army's Multi-Role Bridge Company (MRBC) has a floating, collapsible system of barges called the Improved Ribbon Bridge (IRB) that can

quickly make a bridge where none existed before.

The IRB enables the armed forces to ferry weapons, supplies, troops, and vehicles across waterways that don't have a permanent bridge spanning them. The IRB uses an enhanced folding and unfolding device to quickly open in water with a non-skid roadway. The bridge can be utilized even in rough waters and also comes equipped with splash guards to prevent flooding. IRB's can be assembled and ready for transport using a hydraulic system in roughly 30 minutes.

IRB's are made of up individual bays that are attached to one another, with ramps on each end of the bridge for easy loading and unloading of cargo. Each bridge can have up to 42 bridge bays totaling 210 meters in length, and can be used on waters with a depth of more than 2.2 meters. The separate bays can be connected to create a large uninterrupted bridge, or by only linking up several bays, they can be used as a handy ferry to transport vehicles. 

These Improved Ribbon Bridges are enabling troops to cross bodies of water faster and safer with all their equipment ready and intact. IBR's can transport loads up 80 tons for tracked vehicles and 96 tons for wheeled vehicles. The Army and Marines have been using these nifty IRBs to cross bridge-less bodies of water since 2002.