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The problem is particularly acute in the region from Germany to Estonia in Eastern Europe where there are six major rivers (the Danube, Volga, Rhine, Elbe, Oder, and Dnieper rivers) and more than 4,500 bridges–800 of which are longer than 100 meters. If only one percent of those bridges were degraded, 5,500 meters of military bridging would be required to replace them, according to Semonite.

The other concern is that today’s modern battle tanks are too heavy for many of Europe’s bridges.

“(There are many bridges throughout Europe) where you can’t take vehicles that are over MLC (Military Load Classification) 70,” said Semonite, referring to a 70-ton vehicle. “When you look at the different types of systems we have most (are) over MLC 70.”

Germany’s Leopard tanks are about 80 tons, British Army Challenger 2s are about 95 tons, and the U.S. Abrams tanks are at about 91 tons, said Semonite.

“Most of the bridging in Europe and the NATO countries is less than 70,” he said, noting that a division needs four crossing sites and a Brigade Combat Team needs two. “If you took all the bridging in NATO and put it together we couldn’t get a Brigade Combat Team across a 400-meter river. We have a real challenge out there. What are we going to do as an army even if we had the NATO resources to be able to align and project power to defeat the enemy?”