Timeline
On March 3, 2023, the United States announced the first AVLB commitment for Ukraine. The March 20, 2023 DoD security-assistance fact sheet then listed eight Armored Vehicle Launched Bridges, giving the public quantity for the transfer.
On January 26, 2024, MilitaryLand reported the first identified photographs of M60 AVLB vehicles in Ukrainian service, associating them with the 5th Tank Brigade. Oryx's Ukrainian equipment-loss list subsequently recorded M60 AVLB losses from photo or video evidence, including destroyed and abandoned examples.
Sources: DOD Ukraine Security Assistance March 2023, DOD Ukraine Security Assistance March 2023 Fact Sheet, MilitaryLand 5th Tank Brigade M60 AVLB, Oryx Ukrainian Equipment Losses
Narrative
The M60 AVLB's documented role in Ukrainian service is combat-engineer mobility support rather than direct fire. The vehicle carries a folding scissors bridge on an M60-series tank chassis so armored and wheeled vehicles can cross short obstacles such as trenches, ditches, streams, and damaged crossings.
The timing of the transfer placed the AVLBs in the same aid cycle as artillery ammunition, demolition munitions, and other equipment for armored and obstacle-clearing operations. The public record supports transfer to Ukraine, later fielding by Ukrainian forces, and subsequent battlefield attrition; it does not by itself identify individual bridge-emplacement incidents or specific crossings where an M60 AVLB laid its bridge.
Sources: DOD Ukraine Security Assistance March 2023, The War Zone M60 AVLB Ukraine, MilitaryLand 5th Tank Brigade M60 AVLB, Oryx Ukrainian Equipment Losses
