26.02.2014

Swiss army cranes

Armasuisse, the procurement division of the Swiss forces, has taken delivery of four new 55 tonne Liebherr LTM 1055-3.2 All Terrain cranes for the Swiss Army, with special attachments and equipment for building temporary bridges.
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The four new Liebherr LTM 1055-3.2 for the Swiss army

The three axle LTM 1055-3.2 has a maximum under-hook-height of 41 metres and can handle 1.4 tonnes at 36 metres radius. Armasuisse also requested a number of additional options including cameras and storage boxes for snow chains and lifting equipment.

One of the uses for the new cranes will be to build temporary steel girder bridges, for which Liebherr designed and built special transport brackets for the application.
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Liebherr designed special brackets to carry bridge girder beams

The brackets clip onto the crane’s retracted outrigger beams, a two and a half tonne bridge beam is then placed onto the brackets and secured. The crane then drives onto the first section of the bridge under construction and lifts the beam on to the bridge piles, which have previously been driven into the river bed, to form the next bridge section. The crane is then driven back onto land and loaded with more beams for the next cycle.

The handover of the four cranes was made at Liebherr Baumaschinen’s depot in Reiden, near Lucerne and included induction training for the crane operator trainers. The Swiss Department for Defence, Civil Protection and Sport has now bought a total of 10 Liebherr cranes since 1994.