Expodefensa 2025 – Rugged mobility, anywhere: Deschamps tactical ground mats
Deschamps ground reinforcement and temporary roadway mats are roll-out or modular tactical mobility solutions designed to rapidly create roads, platforms, and support areas on soft soils for armed forces, civil protection and demanding industrial users, while also improving access for people with reduced mobility. They enable repeated traffic by heavy vehicles, including tracked platforms, on sand, mud, snow, or gravel, yet remain easy to deploy with limited logistical means
Deschamps offers several mat families: Quick Access™ for temporary roads and vehicle access, Grimat™ for ground reinforcement, Bam™ for beach landings and bridge approaches, alongside other Mobi‑Mat® products dedicated to helicopter landing zones and camp flooring. Their common purpose is to turn unstable ground into a load‑bearing, anti‑slip surface that can be installed and removed quickly without major civil works.
Quick Access™ mats are lightweight, rapidly deployed ground and temporary roadway reinforcement solutions that can be laid manually or using truck, trailer, or loader‑mounted dispensers. They are engineered to carry everything from light civilian vehicles to heavy tracked equipment over varied terrain, including sand, snow, mud, and gravel.
Certain Mobi‑Mat® solutions use interconnected semi‑rigid composites with typical masses of around 12 kg/m², widths of about 3.6 metres and module lengths of roughly 9 to 10 metres, providing the load‑bearing capacity and mechanical strength required for expeditionary operations. The mats are designed to resist corrosion, hydrocarbons, UV exposure and large temperature variations (approximately −40 °C to +80 °C), making them suitable for extreme theatres.
Quick Access™ and Mobi‑Mat® systems are optimised for very rapid deployment to create roads, loading and crossing platforms, or manoeuvre areas for engineer units. Their low mass per square metre allows installation by a small team, while vehicle‑mounted dispensers can deploy significant lengths of track in just a few minutes.
The mats can be interconnected and are supplied with anchoring kits, enabling users to cover large areas, maintain continuous routes and ensure stability even under heavy traffic or in adverse weather. This modularity also simplifies recovery, cleaning, and reuse after the mission, which is a key factor for expeditionary forces.
Deschamps is a recognised supplier to many armed forces, including the French, US and German militaries, as well as other NATO nations, NSPA and United Nations customers. The mats are widely employed by expeditionary units, over‑the‑shore logistics elements, engineer battalions and in peace‑support or disaster‑relief operations.
Beyond strictly military use, these ground reinforcement solutions are also deployed by civil airports, oil and gas operators and on construction sites or events requiring temporary access routes over sensitive terrain. This cross‑sector use underscores Deschamps’ role as a specialist in dual‑use ground mobility, serving defence, civil security and demanding industrial markets alike.
Photos by J. Roukoz
