|
M2
/ M3 Bradley
Report : Sartillies and soup31314 (Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle
company)
The Bradley Fighting Vehicle
is an armored personnel carrier, which is currently
replacing the older M113 series. Its main purpose
is to carry infantry in to combat, provide
fire support on operations, and destroy enemy
tanks and other vehicles.
It's both fully armored,
and extremely well armed. Its main weapon,
the M242 25mm chain gun, has a maximum range
of range of about 3000 meters for the HE
(high explosive round) and 1800 meters for
the AP (armor piercing round). The M2/M3 BFV/CFV
can fire max rate of 200 rounds a minute, But
(always a but) it also can fire single shot
(as fast as you can pull the trigger), low
rate (100 rounds a minute), and high rate (200
round a minute)
The Bradley also has four
more weapons at
its disposal. The first is the M240C, a
7.62mm machine gun that is located to the right
of the M242. The second is the M257 smoke
discharger.
The Bradley has two of these, both of which
can loaded with up to four of the smoke
grenades, and used to cover it and/or the troops
that
it carries. The third is the TOW anti-tank
missile system, which allows the Bradley
to
take out any armored vehicle that opposes
it. The fourth is the m231 firing port weapons.
The TOW (tube launched opticly
tracked wire guided missle) `missle can be
fired on the move but only at slow speeds.
Since
the weapon is wire guided it is hard to track
while on the move. However, it makes up for
this by having heavy
armor around the area that the infantry
soldier must be in to be able to fire/reload
the
system.
The Bradley's has a VTA-903T
engine, and an
HMPT-500 three speed hydro mechanical transmission,
which allow it to go up to 66 km/hour on
land (easily keeping up with the Abrams),
and up
to 7.2 km/hour in water. Water? Why yes!
The Bradley is not just limited to land;
every single model of the Bradley is capable
of
traveling
in water. In the first few models, a Bradley
crew could apply a waterproof barrier,
which took about 30 minutes to set up. However
now in the newer models of the Bradley's,
the
barrier
is replaced by a pontoon, which can be
inflated in only 15 minutes, half the time
of the
older models.
On the subject of models;
basically there are two classes of Bradley's,
with many types of models under each class.
First is the M2 Bradley, a.k.a. the Infantry
Fighting Vehicle (The one in Ghost Recon is
also the M2, which you can see in action in
Mission 14: Willow Bow).
The M2 has a three-man
crew; there is a driver, a gunner, and Bradley
commander, and can also carry up to six infantry
soldiers
and their equipment.
There are four basic models
of this Bradley: the M2, M2A1, M2A2, and M2A3.
Basically the differences between the models
are minor little details, like the addition
of more electronic devices to assist the crew
of the Bradley's (laser range finders, thermal
vision, target tracking, etc...). The second
class of Bradley is the M3, a.k.a. Cavalry
Fighting Vehicle. There really is not a major
difference between the M2 and M3. Basically
the M3 does not have external firing ports,
and sacrifices room for soldiers (hence why
its only used by small scout teams). Instead
the extra space is used to carry more equipment
and ammunition for the troops and Bradley crews.
The model numbers of the M3 are the same as
its brother the M2; the M3, M3A1, M3A2, and M3A3, with the same adjustments as the other
M2 models. The first 2 models of the
M2/M3 (the A0 and A1 models) were able to swim.
The A2, A2 ODS (Operation Desert Storm) and
the A3 models can not swim due to there wieght.
All in all the M2/M3 Bradley's
allow infantry troops to move quickly and safely,
wile being able to support them when things
come to worse. They have proven themselves
over time to be reliable, durable, and a deadly
ally to have in combat, and will continue to
do so for the years ahead.
|
