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A Bradley Fighting Vehicle. (U.S. Army / Sgt. Timothy Kingston)
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The Bradley Fighting Vehicle (BFV) is a fighting vehicle platform of the United States manufactured by BAE Systems Land & Armaments, formerly United Defense. It was named after U.S. General Omar Bradley.
The Bradley is designed to transport infantry or scouts with armor protection, while providing covering fire to suppress enemy troops and armored vehicles.
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M2A3 Bradley Fighting Vehicle. (Winifred Brown / Wiki Common)
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The Bradley was developed largely in response to the Soviet BMP family of infantry fighting vehicles, and to serve as both an armored personnel carrier, and a tank-killer. One specific design requirement was that it should be as fast as the then new M1 Abrams main battle tank so they could maintain formations while moving.
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M2A3 Bradley Fighting Vehicle crew shoots the vehicle’s M242 Bushmaster 25mm Chain Gun. (Winifred Brown / Wiki Common)
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The several Bradley variants include the M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicle and the M3 Bradley cavalry fighting vehicle. The M2 holds a crew of three (a commander, a gunner, and a driver) along with six fully equipped soldiers. The M3 mainly conducts scout missions and carries two scout troopers in addition to the regular crew of three, with space for additional BGM-71 TOW missiles.
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Bradley Fighting Vehicle training. (U.S. Army / Spc. JD Sacharok)
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The gunner is equipped with a Raytheon integrated sight unit (ISU) which includes a day / thermal sight of magnification ×4 and ×12. An optical relay provides the image of the gunner’s sight to the commander.
The gunner also has periscopes for forward and side observation. A daytime sight system for the gunner or commander is provided as backup to the primary sight.
The driver is equipped with three forward periscopes plus one periscope to the left. The central periscope can be replaced with the Northrop Grumman (formerly Litton) AN/VVS-2 driver’s night viewer with a 25mm second-generation image intensifier. Upgraded M2 Bradleys are equipped with the DRS Technologies driver’s vision enhancer (DVE).
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The M2 Bradley Fighting Vehicle fires its 25 mm Bushmaster main gun. (U.S. Army / 1st. Lt. Joseph Brown)
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The Bradley is equipped with the 25 mm M242 Bushmaster as its main weapon. The M242 is a single-barrel chain gun with an integrated dual-feed mechanism and remote feed selection.
The cannon has 300 rounds of ammunition in two ready boxes (one of 70 rounds, the other of 230 rounds), with an extra 600 rounds in storage for the M2 Infantry Fighting Vehicle variant or 1,200 stowed rounds for the M3 Cavalry Fighting Vehicle variant.
The two ready boxes allow a 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.
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A Soldier waves from inside an M2A3 Bradley Fighting Vehicle during gunnery training at the Doña Ana Range Complex, N.M., Aug. 3, 2018. (Winifred Brown / Wiki Common)
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It is also armed with an 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 antitank fashion), the Bradley has a TOW missile system on board, which was changed to fire TOW II missile from the M2A1 model onwards.
M2 infantry Bradleys also have firing ports for a number of M231 Firing Port Weapons (FPWs), providing a means for the occupants to fire from within the vehicle and replacing the top-side gunners on the M113-based Armored Cavalry Assault Vehicles, though the M231 is rarely employed.
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Bradley Fighting Vehicle. (Mark6mauno / Wiki Common)
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The Bradley is equipped with a VTA-903T engine from Cummins Engine Co of Colombus, Indiana. The hydromechanical transmission HMPT-500 from Combat Propulsion Systems, a Division of L-3 Communications, provides three speed ranges. The engines provide a maximum speed of 66km/h.
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A U.S. Army soldier keeps watch from the hatch of his Bradley Fighting Vehicle at the National Training Center in Fort Irwin, Calif., on Feb. 24, 2013. (DoD / EJ Hersom, U.S. Army)
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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. The Bradley was initially designed to float by deploying a flotation curtain around the vehicle, allowing it to "swim" at a speed of 4.5 mph (7.2 km/h). Later armor upgrades have negated this capability.
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An M3A1 Bradley Cavalry Fighting Vehicle belonging to the Montana Army National Guard demonstrates turret stabilization capabilities during a circular pivot steer at an Open House at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana. 2 August 2011. (Roger M. Dey / Wiki Common)
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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 improve the side protection of later versions, although this increases overall weight to 33 tons.
In friendly fire incidents in Desert Storm, many crew members survived hits that resulted in total losses for lighter U.S. Marine Corps LAV-25 vehicles.
All versions are also equipped with two four-barreled smoke grenade launchers on the front of the turret for creating defensive smoke screens, which can also be loaded with chaff and flares.
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Soldiers in a Bradley fighting vehicle fire rounds during a live-fire exercise at Camp Aachen in Grafenwoehr, Germany, Jan. 12, 2019. (Army Sgt. 1st Class Ronald Lee)
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The Bradley Urban Survival Kit (BUSK) is an upgrade similar to the M1 Abrams TUSK kit. It decreases the vulnerability of Bradleys in urban threat environments.
The kit includes a more powerful spotlight, a wire mesh protector to keep the optics from getting scratched, and nonconductive arched strips of nylon that push away fallen electrical wires (power line protection) that would endanger crews, additional armor on the underside, and a bullet-resistant transparent shield for the commander outside the turret.
It also includes sensors and a software package to quickly detect when components are wearing out and simulation software so the gunners could train more realistically.
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3-7 Infantry Regiment Bradley Fighting Vehicle is guarding the highway to Saddam International Airport in Baghdad on 10 April 2003. (U.S. Army / SGT Igor Paustovski)
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The M3 Cavalry Fighting Vehicle was originally planned to be named after General Jacob L. Devers, but it was decided the Bradley name would apply to both, since both vehicles are based on the same chassis (they differ in only some details). The M2 carries a crew of three and a six-man infantry squad. The M3 carries the crew of three and a two-man scout team and additional radios, TOW and Dragon or Javelin missiles.
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U.S. Army Soldiers provide security around a local town during Decisive Action Rotation 15-05 at the National Training Center in Fort Irwin, Calif., March 3, 2015. (U.S. Army / Sgt. Charles Probst/Released)
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Specifications
Mass: 27.6 t (4,350 st)
Length: 6.55 m (21.5 ft)
Width: 3.6 m (12 ft)
Height: 2.98 m (9.8 ft)
Crew: 3 + variable number of passengers depending on variant
Armor:
- Spaced laminate armor: 14.5-30mm all around AP protection (Depending on variant).
- Explosive reactive armour: RPG protection.
- 25 mm M242 Bushmaster chain gun
- BGM-71 TOW anti-tank missile
Engine: Cummins VTA-903T diesel 600 hp (450 kW)
Power/weight: 19.74 hp/ton
Suspension: torsion bar
Operational range: 400 km (250 mi)
Maximum speed: 56 km/h (35 mph)
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