Birdon recently delivered 14 x M30 Bridge Erection Boats to the U.S. Army National Guard at Salinas, Puerto Rico to replace the aging MKII boat. The primary mission of the M30 is to provide tactical float bridging and rafting operations worldwide. The M30 is also used for reconnaissance, search and rescue, diving missions, transportation of troops, and natural disaster relief efforts. Birdon is supplying close to 500 x M30 BEBs to the US Army, all constructed at our facility in Denver.
As part of the total fielding package, the Birdon team performed onsite testing and inventory inspections in conjunction with representatives from United States Tank-automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM) for the official handover to the 892nd Multi-Role Bridge Company.
The Birdon fielding and training team members have engineering, logistics, field service and manufacturing backgrounds to provide multiple areas of expertise to support the U.S. Army. Since May 2018, we have fielded 282 boats to 21 bridging companies in the US Army.
The Birdon team provides 40-hours of operator training, consisting of classroom and direct training to ensure U.S. Army operators have a firm understanding of the M30’s operating capabilities, systems, and interoperability with existing bridging equipment.
In addition to operator training, the Birdon team provides 40-hours of classroom and hands-on training to U.S. Army maintainers. In this course, all boat systems are studied to provide the maintainers with a clear understanding of maintenance requirements, troubleshooting and diagnosing faults and waterjet maintenance. Birdon’s fielding team have trained 305 operators and 213 maintainers on the M30 BEB.
The soldiers involved in the training in Puerto Rico were excited to receive the new equipment and were impressed with the ease of operation and maintenance. Once again with this delivery, the operators were very pleased with the propulsion power the M30 BEB provides in comparison to the MKII.