Place of origin France | Armour none | |
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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.
The crew consists of four people:
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.