Bradley Fighting Vehicle

Bradley Fighting Vehicle
A U.S. Army Bradley in 2004, during the Iraq War.
Type	Armored fighting vehicle
Place of origin	United States
Service history
In service	1981–present
Used by	See Operators below
Production history
No. built	6,720
Variants	See Variants below
Specifications
Weight	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: 30 mm AP and RPG all around protection.explosive reactive armor.
Main armament	25 mm M242 chain gun TOW anti-tank missile
Secondary armament	7.62 mm M240C machine gun
Engine	Cummins VTA-903T diesel 600 hp (450 kW)
Power/weight	19.74 hp/tonne
Suspension	torsion bar
Operational range	400 km (250 mi)
Speed	56 km/h (35 mph)

The Bradley Fighting Vehicle (BFV) is an American fighting vehicle platform manufactured by BAE Systems Land and 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. There are several Bradley variants, including 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 scouts in addition to the regular crew of three, with space for additional TOW missiles. The Red River Army Depot in Texarkana, Texas is the Center of Industrial Technical Excellence (CITE) for the maintenance and repair of the Bradley system.

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 (APC), 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 that they could maintain formations while moving.

The M2/M3's primary armament is a 25 mm cannon that fires up to 200 rounds per minute and is accurate up to 3000 m, depending on the ammunition used. It is also armed with a TOW missile launcher that is capable of carrying two loaded missiles. The missiles, capable of destroying most tanks to a maximum range of 4,000 metres (13,000 ft), 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. The gun 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 (in the M2 Infantry Fighting Vehicle variant) or 1200 stowed rounds (in 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. The tungsten APDS-T rounds proved highly effective in Desert Storm, being capable of knocking 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. 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).