The M2 Bradley, or Bradley IFV, is an American infantry fighting vehicle, manufactured by BAE Systems Land & Armaments, formerly United Defense as part of the Bradley Fighting Vehicle family.


The Bradley is designed for reconnaissance and maneuverability. The Bradley is also designed to transport a squad of infantry, providing them protection from small arms fire, while also providing firepower to both suppress and eliminate most threats to friendly infantry. The M2 can hold a crew of three: a commander, a gunner and a driver; as well as six fully equipped soldiers.


The total cost of the program is $5,664,100,000, and the average unit costs $3,166,000.^[2]


The Bradley IFV was developed largely in response to the amphibious Soviet BMP family of infantry fighting vehicles, and to serve as both an Armored personnel carrier (APC), and a tank-killer. One specific design requirement was that it should be as fast as the new M1 Abrams main battle tank so that they could maintain formations while moving, something which the older M113 armored personnel carrier could not do, as it had been designed to complement the older M60 Patton.

Armament[edit]

The M2's primary armament is a 25 mm cannon which fires up to 200 rounds per minute and is accurate up to 2,500 m depending on the ammunition used. It is also armed with twin BGM-71 TOW wire-guided missiles held in a rectangular compartment on the left side of the turret which are capable of destroying most tanks out to a maximum range of 3750 m. However, the missiles can only be fired while the vehicle is stationary. The Bradley also carries a coaxial 7.62 mm medium machine gun, located to the right of the 25 mm chain gun.


The Bradley is equipped with the M242 25 mm chain gun as its main weapon. The M242 has a single barrel with an integrated dual-feed mechanism and remote feed selection.^[3] The gun contains ammunition in two ready boxes of 70 rounds and 230 rounds each for a total of 300 ready rounds and carries 600 rounds in storage. The two ready boxes allow selectable mix of rounds, such as the M791 APDS-T (Armor-Piercing Discarding Sabot (with) Tracer), and M792 HEI-T (High Explosive Incendiary (with) Tracer) rounds. The tungsten APDS-T rounds proved highly effective in Desert Storm as they knocked out many Iraqi vehicles, including several kills on T-55 tanks. There have even been reports of kills against Iraqi T-72 tanks at close range.^{[citation needed]} Subsequent ammunition developments resulted in the M919 APFSDS-T (Armor-Piercing Fin Stabilized Discarding Sabot with Tracer) round, which contains a finned depleted uranium penetrator similar in concept to armor piercing munitions used in modern tanks. The M919 was used in combat during the 2003 invasion phase of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF).


It is also armed with a M240C machine gun mounted coaxially to the M242, with 2,200 rounds of 7.62 mm ammunition. For engaging heavier targets (such as when acting in an anti-tank fashion), the Bradley has a TOW missile system on board, which was changed from the M2A1 model onwards to fire TOW II missiles. M2 infantry Bradleys also have turreted firing ports for a number of M231 Firing Port Weapons or FPWs, providing a button-up firing position to replace the top-side gunners on the old ACAV, though the M231 is rarely employed. Initial variants carried six, but the side ports were plated over with the new armor used on the A2 and A3 variants, leaving only the two rear-facing mounts in the loading ramp.

Countermeasures[edit]

The burned remains of a M2A2 Bradley

The use of aluminum armor and the storage of large quantities of ammunition in the vehicle initially raised questions about its combat survivability. Spaced laminate belts and high hardness steel skirts have been added to later versions to improve armor protection, although this increased overall weight to 33 tons. However, actual combat operations have not shown the Bradley to be overtly deficient as losses have been few. In friendly fire incidents in Desert Storm, many crew members survived hits that resulted in total losses for lighter USMC LAV-25 vehicles.


All versions are also equipped with two four-barreled smoke grenade launchers on the front of the turret for creating defensivesmoke screens, and can also be loaded with chaff and flares.

Chassis[edit]

Bradleys have a welded aluminum unit or monocoque structure to which the armor is attached, mostly on the outside. The suspension is by torsion bars and cranks. Six small rubber rimmed, divided road wheels on each side straddle the location flanges sticking up from the tread. These were originally of aluminum, but were changed to steel as vehicle weight increased. The steel treads sit on flat hard rubber "tires".

Mobility[edit]

The Bradley is highly capable in cross-country open terrain, in accordance with one of the main design objectives of keeping pace with the M1 Abrams main battle tank. Whereas the M113 would float without much preparation, the Bradley was initially designed to float by deploying a flotation curtain around the vehicle. This caused some drownings due to failures during its first trials. Armor upgrades have negated this capability.