America’s New Bradley Needs to Chill Out

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The Army’s new M2 Bradley is designed to increase survivability and…. oh god look at that turret, why is it so extra? They threw the entire kitchen sink at it with new sensors, weapons, and armor! There’s barely enough room for the cannon up there anymore, that turret needs to chill out. What new capabilities did the pentagon just cram up there. And how are they a response to some of the lessons learned in modern combat?

Written by: Chris Cappy & Armando Duarte Galán

Edited by: Savvy Studios

As of 2024 the US army has 2,500 Bradley Infantry fighting vehicles of all variants that are in operational service with an extra 2,800 chilling lying around in storage. The US army has enough bradleys in a warehouse to arm several small countries several times over. The current plan is to upgrade 700 of them to the new M2A4 version by 2029. So that old one was the Bradley, this,,,, is the uh Chadley? According to this congressional budget research document the average age of these Bradleys is about 10.2 years old. (pg8) so If the army drives their IFVs like I drive my cars they still have another couple of decades left in them.

Just how different is the M2A4 Bradley from the older versions? It’s basically an entirely different vehicle so don’t dead name it. First of all the new hull is larger and thicker on the bottom to counter land mines. The vehicle is also seven inches higher from the ground so that troops don’t slam into the ceiling and break their neck if they hit a mine. The larger hull increased the amount of Bradley reactive armor tiles that could be added for protection. However all these modifications came with a downside: they started to add a lot of serious weight; in its glow up, it's gone from about 25 tons to 40 tons today.

With the added weight the Bradley started to slow down losing 10 kilometers per hour of max speed. So it was cruising at 56 km/h and was starting to sag lower to the ground. This might not sound like a big deal but we have to remember the Bradley is designed to operate alongside the Abrams main battle tank while it chugs along at 68 kmph. One of its main advantages is its maneuverability. That’s why the A4 version received a 675 horsepower 8 cylinder Diesel engine and hydraulic transmission as well as suspension and track upgrades to restore ground clearance and suspension reliability. That’s a big step up from the original 500 hp engine it had back in the 80s. All of that is to say the new version regains that lost speed.

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