Aviation Naval Warfare Land Systems Small Arms By Flag By Year By Tag

M104 Wolverine

2003 MODERN

M104 History of Wolverine

The M104 Wolverine was adopted by the US Army to replace the obsolete Armored Vehicle Launch Bridge (AVLB) bridging system based on the M60 main battle tank. The M104 follows the same design path as it was only developed from the current generation M1 Abrams main battle tank (MBT).

As such, the new car shares many car and track components from its predecessor, while its on-road/off-road performance differs only slightly from its original.

The M104 was developed by General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS) from 1983 and produced the M1 Abrams turretless hull with special mounting hardware and an inherent propulsion system to manage the mounted "scissor" fold Bridge part above the hull. The bridge was designed by MAN Mobile Bridges GmbH, Germany. This work inevitably led to the test vehicle (prototype), the tests of which began in 1996.

Following the successful completion of this phase, the vehicle was adopted by the U.S. Army Engineering Team as the "M104 Wolverine" in 2003.

The Procurement Department has about 44 vehicles of this type in stock - although this is a significant decrease from the 450+ vehicles initially sought by military authorities (mainly due to budget cuts).

In the wild, the M104 allows traversing seemingly insurmountable terrain, such as deep water sources or canyons. The bridge components are laid by carrier vehicles with only two occupants. These personnel reside in protective armored hulls, protected from essential battlefield hazards and inclement weather. The origins of the M1 Arbam have allowed Wolverine to keep up with other mechanized units in the Army, such as the Bradley IFV series of vehicles. The bridge assembly was launched and set up in five minutes, then recovered by the same launch vehicle on the other side of the intersection for reuse somewhere on the road.

Wolverine can then rejoin his advancing column. However, it lacks any standard defensive armament and more or less requires the M104 to engage friendly forces in close quarters in a combat environment.

November 2018 - The U.S. Army has agreed to purchase a new generation of Joint Assault Bridge (JAB) vehicles from DRS Sustainment Systems for $17. $2 million. The work is expected to be completed in 2024.