NATO Drills Contested River Crossing in Poland’s DZIELNY BÓBR-25 Exercise

NATO’s latest multinational exercise in Poland—DZIELNY BÓBR-25—focused on one of the most tactically complex maneuvers in high-intensity warfare: a contested river crossing. Held along the Oder River near Krosno Odrzańskie in western Poland in late October 2025, the operation brought together German and Polish combat engineer units to test rapid bridging capabilities under simulated enemy fire. This drill underscores NATO’s emphasis on mobility and interoperability amid growing concerns over potential conflict scenarios along its eastern flank.

Strategic Context: Why River Crossings Matter

The Oder River forms part of NATO’s eastern frontier and represents a significant natural obstacle to force maneuver in any potential Article 5 scenario involving Russia. As such, rehearsing large-scale crossings under combat conditions is vital for validating alliance readiness.

Contested river crossings are among the most complex operations in land warfare. They require precise coordination between armored units, engineers, artillery support, air cover, and logistics. Failure to establish a secure bridgehead can stall entire offensives or expose forces to concentrated enemy fire. NATO doctrine emphasizes mobility as a core pillar of deterrence; exercises like DZIELNY BÓBR-25 aim to ensure that allied forces can rapidly project power across terrain bottlenecks such as rivers.

Exercise Overview and Participating Forces

DZIELNY BÓBR-25 (translated as “Brave Beaver”) was conducted from October 21–26 near Krosno Odrzańskie—a key crossing point on the Oder River. The exercise involved over 700 troops from Germany and Poland with heavy equipment including Leopard 2A6 main battle tanks (MBTs), Boxer armored vehicles, amphibious bridging platforms (M3), and pontoon bridge systems (PFM).

Germany: Bundeswehr’s Panzerpionierbataillon 130 provided M3 Amphibious Rigs and Leopard 2A6 MBTs.
Poland: Combat engineers from the Polish Armed Forces deployed PFM pontoon bridge sections and support elements.
NATO VJTF: The drill also served as a validation event for elements of NATO’s Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF), which Germany leads in 2025.

The scenario simulated an opposed crossing under fire conditions—with enemy drones surveilling the area and indirect fire threats modeled through simulated strikes—forcing engineers to deploy countermeasures while maintaining tempo.

Key Equipment: Bridging Systems in Action

The centerpiece of DZIELNY BÓBR-25 was the deployment of two complementary bridging systems:

M3 Amphibious Rig (Germany)

The M3 is a self-propelled amphibious vehicle developed by GDELS-Rheinmetall that can operate independently or be linked with others to form floating bridges or ferries capable of carrying up to MLC70-class vehicles (e.g., Leopard 2 MBTs). In ferry mode, two M3s can transport one MBT across rivers up to 100 meters wide within minutes.

Crew: 3 personnel
Payload: Up to 70 tons
Deployment time: <10 minutes for ferry formation
Status: In service with Germany, UK, Singapore; proven in multiple NATO exercises

PFM Pontoon Bridge System (Poland)

The Polish Armed Forces employed sections of their PFM modular floating bridge system—an indigenous design capable of supporting tracked vehicles up to MLC70 class. Unlike self-propelled rigs like the M3, PFMs require towing boats for deployment but offer longer span capabilities suitable for wide river crossings.

Tactical Execution Under Simulated Fire Conditions

The exercise emphasized not only technical deployment but also tactical realism. Engineers had to operate under simulated enemy observation via UAVs and indirect fires. This forced rapid concealment measures including smoke screens generated by armored vehicles and mobile smoke generators positioned along both banks.

Chemical reconnaissance teams were integrated into bridging convoys to simulate CBRN threat detection during movement—a nod toward hybrid warfare threats where adversaries may employ non-conventional attacks during chokepoint operations.

A key highlight was the synchronized use of Leopard 2A6 MBTs crossing via both ferry-mode M3 rigs and completed PFM bridges while providing overwatch fire positions once across. This validated coordinated armor-engineer tactics essential for securing lodgments beyond water obstacles.

Implications for NATO Mobility Doctrine

DZIELNY BÓBR-25 fits squarely within NATO’s broader push toward enhancing military mobility across Europe—a strategic priority since Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 reignited focus on reinforcement timelines across national borders.

The European Union’s Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) initiative includes cross-border military mobility projects aimed at simplifying transit permits and infrastructure upgrades; however, actual river crossing capability remains a national responsibility within multinational formations like VJTF or NRF (NATO Response Force).

This exercise demonstrated that German-led VJTF elements could deploy bridging assets rapidly into Poland—a critical factor should reinforcements need to cross rivers like the Oder or Vistula during crisis response operations eastward toward Lithuania or Ukraine’s border zone.

NATO Engineer Interoperability Tested

A recurring theme was interoperability—not just between units but between systems. German M3s operated alongside Polish PFMs with coordination facilitated through standardized NATO procedures including STANAG-compliant radio comms and shared tactical graphics via C4ISR platforms used by both nations’ engineer battalions.

This level of integration is not trivial; differences in doctrine, command structures, even terminology can degrade tempo during real-world operations unless thoroughly rehearsed beforehand—as DZIELNY BÓBR-25 aimed to do. The successful joint operation suggests that German-Polish engineer cooperation has matured significantly since earlier eFP deployments began rotating through Poland post-2017.

Looking Ahead: Future Exercises & Capability Gaps

NATO planners are likely to expand contested crossing drills into more complex scenarios involving EW disruption, drone swarms targeting bridgeheads or logistics nodes mid-crossing—mirroring battlefield dynamics seen in Ukraine where river crossings have become high-risk operations due to precision fires and ISR saturation.

A potential capability gap remains around SHORAD coverage during such crossings; while some air defense assets were simulated during DZIELNY BÓBR-25, real-time integration of mobile SHORAD units like Germany’s Skyranger or Poland’s Poprad would add realism against UAV threats observed globally since 2020s conflicts began reshaping threat models around chokepoints like bridges or pontoon sites.