An intriguing photograph has emerged of an M2 Bradley infantry combating car (IFV) captured by Russia and fitted with a Russian-made 30mm cannon rather than the car’s authentic Bushmaster M242 25mm automated cannon. Whether or not the set up is meant for operational use, for trials, or for some completely different goal is unclear, however different unorthodox modifications to armored automobiles have appeared because the begin of the warfare in Ukraine.
The Bradley seen within the photograph is without doubt one of the examples captured largely intact by Russia from the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The placement and date of the photograph are unknown, as is the unique supply, however the Bradley in query appears to be in a depot alongside different Western-supplied armor captured from the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
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Some questioned how can Russians use the Bradley if they do not have ammo for it. Properly, that is how:
“Russian repairmen put in a home 30mm 2A72 cannon on a captured Bradley as an alternative of the chain-driven Bushmaster.” pic.twitter.com/m4SZhfVKQe
Most curiously, Russian technicians have changed the Bushmaster with what seems to be a 30mm 2A72 cannon, in all probability finest referred to as the primary gun of the BTR-82 wheeled armored personnel service.
The 2A72 is a reduced-weight improvement of the extensively used 2A42, additionally a 30mm weapon, which arms the BMP-2 infantry fight car, BMD-2 and BMD-3 airborne fight automobiles, BTR-90 armored personnel service, in addition to Ka-52 Hokum and Mi-28 Havoc assault helicopters.
The 2A72 has a fee of fireside of 330 rounds per minute, sending its ammunition to an efficient vary of just about a mile in opposition to an armored car. It is a notably quicker fee of fireside than the already spectacular 200 rounds per minute achieved by the Bushmaster.
In opposition to smooth targets, comparable to infantry, the efficient vary of the 2A72 is elevated to round 1.2 miles. Ammunition choices embody armor-piercing-tracer (AP-T), high-explosive fragmentation-incendiary (HEF-I), and high-explosive-tracer (HE-T) ammunition.
A Russian Ministry of Protection video reveals the 2A72 gun in motion on a BTR-82A throughout an train:
As for the Bushmaster, it is a weapon that we’ve got mentioned earlier than, within the context of the Bradley being utilized in Ukraine. The Bushmaster can hearth two several types of ammunition, fed from packing containers by way of chutes into the autoloader. The gunner, sitting to the left of the tank commander, can flip a swap to pick out between high-explosive (HE) rounds to strike evenly armored automobiles or depleted uranium (DU) armor-piercing sabot rounds to hit extra closely armored automobiles like IFVs and even tanks. The gunner may also choose between single- or multiple-shot modes.
“Our DU rounds can actually hit one facet of an armored personnel service or infantry combating car (like a BRDM or BMP) and exit the opposite facet and could have sufficient kinetic power to disable one other one,” one armor knowledgeable informed TWZ, talking on situation of anonymity.
Properly-known movies present Ukrainian Bradleys firing 25mm rounds from their Bushmaster weapons at a Russian T-90M major battle tank from comparatively shut vary:
There are three issues you’ll be able to watch ceaselessly. Like this Ukrainian M2 Bradley IFV obliterating a «no-analogue» russian T-90M tank.
Increased high quality footage of a pair of Ukrainian M2A2 Bradley IFVs from the forty seventh Mechanized efficiently dueling a Russian T-90M in Stepove, disabling it, with a comply with up FPV munition strike inflicting the crew to desert the broken car. pic.twitter.com/Vor8IuVlBZ
Greater than 300 examples of the M2A2 ODS model of the Bradley have been supplied to Ukraine by america from April 2023 onwards. Based on the Oryx open-source monitoring group, which solely information losses that it has visible affirmation of, at the very least 12 Ukrainian Bradleys have been captured by Russian forces, and plenty of extra have been deserted after having been broken or have been outright destroyed. A minimum of a few of the deserted however nonetheless intact automobiles might have discovered their method into Russian fingers, too, and should have been repaired.
One doable cause behind the modification might relate to the Russian operational use of captured Bradleys.
There’s proof that Russia has been making some restricted use of captured Bradleys on the battlefield. A minimum of one official video reveals Russian troops from the Middle Military Group working a captured Bradley, after it was returned to operating order, having been disabled by a mine. As soon as in Russian service, the car was fitted with extra anti-drone safety ‘cope cage’ across the high of the hull.
A screencap from a video exhibiting a captured Bradley in Russian service. Russian Ministry of Protection screencap
In that very same video, a Russian soldier explains that the Bradley is prized, above all, for its heavy armor, the scale of its troop compartment, and its refined fire-control system.
One other soldier states that they like the 30mm gun on the BMP-2 to the Bushmaster, indicating that the unique American gun remains to be fitted to the car, though its use could be restricted by the restricted provide of the suitable ammunition.
Gunner ‘Molfar’, 39, a Bradle crew member of the forty seventh Magura Mechanized Brigade who took half within the combating to liberate Robotyne village from Russian forces, is pictured inside his car, Zaporizhzhia path, southeastern Ukraine. Picture by Ukrinform/NurPhoto by way of Getty Pictures
Clearly, at the very least some frontline Russian items take into account it worthwhile to function captured Bradleys, even when they could be only a few in quantity, with no supporting logistics chain or ammunition stockpiles.
We would even be taking a look at a take a look at set up to look at whether or not it’s possible to re-arm the Bradley with a Russian major gun.
It might even be meant for propaganda functions, with the Russian gun standing in for the Bushmaster in order that the car might be demonstrated in parades or in collections of captured Western gear.
Captured Bradleys (with authentic weapons) have been displayed amongst warfare booty in Russia earlier than, as you’ll be able to examine right here. Taking into consideration the favored nature of those sorts of exhibitions, this may even be the most certainly rationalization.
Crowds of onlookers greet a captured Bradley on a rail-bound propaganda tour of Russia. by way of X
There’s additionally a precedent for adjustments being made to the unique weapons on captured armor, with one M1A1 Abrams major battle tank being displayed in Russia with the damaged barrel reinstalled upside-down.
In addition to serving propaganda functions, captured Bradleys are additionally offering Russia with an opportunity to get a better take a look at Western armor. Not too long ago, Sergey Chemezov, CEO of Russia’s state-run protection conglomerate Rostec, criticized varied completely different Western armored automobiles utilized by Ukraine, together with the Bradley, in an interview on the corporate web site.
Though Chemezov additionally highlights the Bradley’s good degree of crew safety and inner structure, he expresses doubts about its tactical effectiveness.
“Some consultants, together with ours, reward the Bradley. For my part, that’s unjustified enthusiasm. We checked out it from all sides: sure, it has some positives when it comes to safety and troop compartment consolation. However that doesn’t cease our weapons from destroying the car together with its crew and passengers,” he stated.
A Ukrainian soldier is seen close to a Bradley in Avdiivka, Donbas, Ukraine, on December 4, 2023. Picture by Marek M. Berezowski/Anadolu by way of Getty Pictures Picture by Marek M. Berezowski/Anadolu by way of Getty Pictures
Chemezov additional criticizes the Bradley’s off-road mobility and lack of amphibious functionality (one thing that could be a elementary a part of the design ethos of Russian IFVs).
“The Bradley has a critical weak spot: issues with mobility,” Chemezov continues. “It struggles off-road and will get caught in black soil, changing into a simple goal as a consequence of its massive measurement. And what’s the usage of higher safety if the end result is similar? Practically all Bradleys delivered to Ukraine have been destroyed. We’ve to recollect, an IFV isn’t a tank. It ought to be quick, cellular, and able to crossing rivers unaided. Our IFVs can do this, the American ones can’t.”
In fact, Chemezov’s feedback are very closely coloured by the truth that his job is to promote rival protection gear each to the Russian state and to a diminishing variety of overseas shoppers. There are, in the meantime, a number of documented cases of Ukrainian Bradleys surviving a number of direct hits and withstanding the consequences of drone strikes or mines. The truth that Russia is even capable of seize broken automobiles and get them working once more can also be a testomony to their sturdiness.
However, Chemezov is right to state that Ukrainian Bradley losses have been heavy. Based on figures from Oryx, there’s documented proof exhibiting 177 Ukrainian Bradleys destroyed, broken after which deserted, or captured. However so long as workable Bradleys might be salvaged by Russia, they’re prone to be put to make use of, even when solely on an ad-hoc foundation.
Whereas it’s unlikely that Russia will have the ability to assemble a fleet of Bradleys massive sufficient to warrant a extra in depth program to rearm them with domestically produced weapons, the looks of at the very least one of many IFVs with a Russian-made 30mm cannon fitted is definitely a noteworthy novelty.
