Swiss military contract for WFEL
Posted on 21 Jan 2014. Edited by: John Hunter. Read 3467 times.
#mfg #manufacturing #engineering @WFEL_bridges Stockport-based WFEL has won a £37 million contract from the Swiss military. The 100-year-old company will supply its dry support bridges to Armasuisse for use in training exercises and infrastructure support.
These bridges can be deployed by just eight soldiers and a single vehicle in under 90min and can bridge gaps up
to 46m. More than 100 have been sold to the USA, Turkish and Swiss armies.
WFEL was founded in 1915 by William Fairey. During the Second World War, the company was well known for the Fairey Swordfish bomber, which helped to sink the Bismarck. In the 1970s, the company diversified into mobile bridges for the Ministry of Defence.
WFEL employs 250 people and has a turnover of nearly £40 million. In 2011, it was sold by Dunedin to the German defence company Krauss-Maffei Wegmann for an estimated £60 million.