The military issues websites BulgarianMilitary.com and the Ukraine-based GaGadget.com gave details of a Russian report into a captured US Bradley infantry fighting vehicle (IFV).
The document titled: “Results of Research Tests of the BMP ‘Bradley’ M2A2 ODS SA” was leaked on the “BTVT.info: Tanks - History and modern times” Telegram channel on Sunday April 6.
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Screenshot of the front page of the Russian Ministry of Defense’s 38th Research Institute of Armored Vehicles report “Results of Research Tests of the BMP ‘Bradley’ M2A2 ODS SA.” Photo: Telegram
The report was apparently compiled by the Russian Ministry of Defense’s 38th Research Institute of Armored Vehicles (RIAV), based in Kubinka near Moscow. The designation “ODS SA” stands for “Operation Desert Storm – Situational Awareness” upgrade which resulted in the installation of improved electronics, optics, and protection systems based on lessons learnt during the 1991 Gulf War.
The Bradley was likely one of the 50 vehicles delivered as part of a $3.1 billion US aid package announced by the Pentagon in January 2023.
The Russian researchers didn’t confirm whether their assessment was based on more than one captured IFV, but there had been several reports in late 2023 and early 2024 of Western equipment in service with the Ukrainian armed forces having been captured or destroyed.
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In February 2024, the Russian Embassy in South Africa crowed about a “fully operational” Bradley having been recovered with photographs on several pro-Kremlin social media sites showing the vehicle loaded onto a railway wagon ready for transportation to Russia.
The US M2A2 Bradley captured in Ukraine by Russian forces in early 2024 caused a stir when loaded on a railway wagon. Photo: Russian social media.
The Russian analysis of the M2A2 Bradley
The immediate conclusion was surprise that the Russian researchers unequivocally declared that the US-made Bradley significantly outperforms its nearest Russian equivalent, the BMP-3 (Боевая Машина Пехоты-3) in key areas.
Their analysis concluded that the M2 Bradley provided extremely high levels of crew protection from Russian artillery, anti-tank weapons, and anti-tank landmines (ATL). This is provided by its combined aluminum and steel “sandwich” construction which, especially if fitted with BRAT (Bradley Reactive Armor Tiles), provides complete protection from both frontal and side-on attack. Protection from ATL is achieved by the addition of polymer matting between the underside armor sheets and shock-absorbing seating.
This enhanced “survivability” had already been acknowledged by the Ukrainian military who have been mightily impressed by the Bradley’s ability to withstand mine blasts and anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) attacks without crew losses.
In terms of firepower, the analysis recognized that the US 25mm chain gun provided a rate of fire that completely outmatches and gives armor penetration that was double that of the BMP-3’s externally mounted Shipunov 2A42 30mm gun.
Despite the Russian vehicle’s main armament of the 2A70 100 mm rifled gun through which it can fire conventional munitions and 9M117 Bastion ATGM (NATO: AT-10 Stabber) this was far outweighed by the Bradley’s combination of protection, firepower and speed of engagement.
A video posted in January 2024 showed a Bradley engaging a Russian T-90 main battle tank with its chain gun pouring so much fire onto the enemy vehicle it was eventually destroyed.
The RIAV report also drew attention to the Bradley’s operational advantages in respect of its optics, ergonomics, maintainability, and the ease of access and egress for both the 3-man vehicle operating crew and the 7-man infantry combat compartment.
The BMP-3’s shortcomings were already known
This report also acknowledged that the limitations of Russia’s IFVs (BMP1, 2 and 3). The BTVT.info writers say that its vulnerability to modern battlefield weapons were known about long before Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion.
It drew attention to a 2013 article in a Russian military engineering magazine titled “Assault vehicles for the Ground Forces” which concluded that the use of the BMP-3 to attack enemy defensive positions, as “prescribed by [Russian] Combat Regulations” would lead to the destruction of the vehicle and crew. The BMP-3 is “only suitable for transporting soldiers to the frontline zone” or fighting from “static defensive positions.”
The RIAV report says that, by implication, ALL Russian armored vehicles are in need of technical upgrades which would include installing armored screens, enhanced protection for the vehicle commander, driver and gunner compartment and new weapons. In its conclusions, the report says there is a need to adopt “Western design solutions” when modernizing existing or designing future equipment.
As BulgarianMilitary.com concludes, a key Russian technical institute viewing its armed forces as being equipped with substandard equipment that is technologically streets behind that of the US and the West must be concerning for the Kremlin but good news for Western weapons manufacturers, its military forces, and Ukraine.
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