The M2 Bradley is an Infantry Fighting Vehicle while the M3 Bradley is a cavalry fighting vehicle (as in anti-tank) but both of them are designed and manufactured by BAE Systems Land and Armaments, previously known as United Defense.

Just like any other infantry fighting vehicle, the Bradley’s prime objective is to transport soldiers to and from the battlefield while offering them some level of armored defense and providing counter-fire to the enemy.The M2 can hold up to 9 people: three crew members (the commander, the gunner, and the driver) and six fully equipped soldiers. The M3, on the other hand, is mostly just to scout out the area so it only holds the three crew members plus two scouts.

The Bradley was designed to counter Soviet IFVs of the same class and required that these new tanks be able to maintain the same speeds as the M1 Abrams in order to stay in a formation, which the old M113 Armored Personnel Carrier couldn’t do because it was made to stay in formation with the M60 Patton, a retired vehicle.

Both models of the Bradley have 25 mm cannons that can fire 200 rounds per minute up to 2500 meters away. They also have two TOW2B missiles that can easily destroy most tanks at 3750 meters away. The TOW can only be fired however, when the vehicle is stationary. The Bradley also comes equipped with a 7.62 mm medium machine gun which is fixed just to the right of the 25 mm chain gun. The Bradley does great with large open terrains and when it was first built, was even capable of floating on water. Over the years, the extra armor makes this impossible, however.

The Bradley weighs 33 tons and has an aluminum hull, which has led many to criticize the Bradley’s combat survivability. The vehicle also tends to carry large ammunition stockpiles around with it which has done even more to raise skepticism. Few losses have actually come to the Bradley during combat, however, as hard steel skirts and spaced laminate belts have been added to the later models for extra defense. In Desert Storm, the crews of the Bradley vehicles survived more often than the Marine Corps’ LAV 25 vehicles.

Lieutenent Colonel James Burton conducted several test fires in which they found out that the center of the Bradley is the most vulnurable when it comes to being hit. The redesigns that Burton had in mind, however, were never fully added to the Bradley and the vehicle still stores its fuel in the center of the tank, despite Burton’s presentation. Burton later wrote a book describing the vigorous battle that he fought, along side the press and Congress, to have these tests done. Thanks to the work of Burton, over 50 lives were saved in the two Gulf Wars.

The Bradley has been modified in various ways over the years: with the Bradley’s chassis design, it has served as the prime location for the M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System, the M4 C2v Battlefield Command Post, and the M6 Bradley Linebacker Air Defense. With its 25 mm autocannon, armed with a four-slot Stinger surface-to-air missle launcher, the M6 Bradley Linebacker held a special role, providing mobile air defense at the front lines of every battle. The suspension system of the Bradley has also been used to improve the USMC’s Amphibious Assault Vehicle. The total cost of the Bradley’s production program is $5.6 billion as it costs a little over $3 million to create each unit.

The Bradley itself is named after General Omar N. Bradley of World War II. The M3 was actually supposed to be named after General Jacob L. Devers, but it was decided that both the M2 and the M3 models would be named after Bradley because they’re based on the same chassis design.

Since production started in 1981 by the United States Army, nearly seven thousand Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles have been made, including 4.6 thousand M2s and 2 thousand M3s.

In the midst of the Gulf War, the Bradley ended up destroying more Iraqi tanks than the M1 Abrams did. Overall, twenty Bradleys were destroyed, including three that were from enemy fire and another seventeen from friendly fire. Twelve more were damaged. To help prevent the friendly fire incidents, several upgrades were added to the Bradley, including infrared identification panels and several other marking features.

Today, the Bradley seems to be a bit more vulnerable to IED and RPG attacks but casualties have been kept to a minimum, due to a design that allows the crew to abandon the vehicle in order to save their own lives.

The M2 served as the basic model, production starting in 1982. The M2 can easily be recognized for its 500 horsepower engine and standard TOW missle system. The M2 had HMPT-500 hydromechanical transmission, an integrated sight for M242 25 mm gun, a thermal imaging system, and could also fight on both land and in water with the help of a floatation device known as the “Swim Barrier”. The M2 comes with advanced armor that protects it from attack in all directions.

The M2 now allows for thirteen soldiers to fit inside, as adjustments in the seating and additional armor plating has made the rear port weapons obsolete. Improvements also included a TOW II missile system, a GPFU (Gas Particulate Filter Unit) NBC system, and a fire-suppression system in order to prevent fires and explosions due to missiles that may get through the armor. Later, the Bradley got even more upgrades, including a 600 horsepower engine with an HMPT-500-3 Hydromechanical transmission and improved armor. The new armor plating protects the M2 from 30 mm APDS rounds and RPGs, while the ammunition has been reorganized to allow more room.

During Operation Desert Storm, improvements were furthered with an eye-safe laser rangefinder (ELRF), a tactical navigation system (TACNAV), the Precision Lightweight GPS Receiver (PLGR) the Digital Compass Systems (DCS), a countermeasure missile system designed to counter wire-guided missiles, and the Force XXI Battle Command Brigade and Below Battlefield Command Information System. A thermal imaging system was added for the driver of the Bradley, while internal storage was, once again, rearranged. Instead of the rear single-seat arrangement, a bench seat was added to make dismount time even quicker. Even a MRE heater was added to prepare food aboard the Bradley during combat or peacetime ventures.