United States  Description
M2 M3 Bradley


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Description :
For a long time US Army wished to obtain a fighting vehicle of mechanized infantry, but it had to wait the Eighties with this intention, thanks to the delivery of m2 Bradley Infantry fighting vehicle. From the very start of the Sixties, various prototypes had been built and tested: MICV-65 or XM765 derived from the famous VTT M113 for example, but they were not retained. In 1972, firm FMC lives itself to entrust realization of a new vehicle armed with a tube of 20 mm, the XM723. Hardly the first models of preproduction were they ready that the official priorities were changed once again; It was a question this time of developing an armoured tank recognition tracked or with wheels, the XM800. to reconcile the two programs, the authorities finally decided to create a new family of baptized machines FVS (Fighting Vehicle System) based+ on the frame of the XM723 and equipped with a two-seater turret mounting a weapon of 25 mm and a twinned launcher of anti-tank missiles TOW. Version VCI (fighting vehicle of infantry) would be called the XM-2, while the version fighting vehicle of cavalry would receive the name of XM3. The prototypes while resulting were quickly approved under the references m2 and m3 and the production could start since 1981 in the workshops of San Jose (California). The initial command was a little less than seven miles units, and, in 1984, the annual production rate bordered the six hundred machines. M2 Bradley differs little from m3, if it is not that it is equipped with loopholes and that it can transport ten men (crew included/understood) instead of five, which reduces its storage capacity of the ammunition. Its wrought aluminium hull is reinforced by rolled metal plates which improve its shock resistance. The pilot sat with before left. The engine is on its line. The two-seater turret with assisted movements is in the center of the hull. It assembles Chain Gun of 25 mm to mixed provisioning manufactured by Hughes Helicopter and of which the  perforating projectiles stabilized by rotation are able to bore the shielding of tracked light Soviet, a coaxial machine-gun of 7,62 mm and, in its left part, a twinned launcher of guided machines anti-tank TOW. A system of stabilization makes it possible to keep a good precision of shooting when the vehicle is in fast displacement any ground. The transported infantrymen take seat with the back, in a compartment whose sides are bored of six loopholes equipped with periscopes to allow the use of the light weapons of 5,56 mm from the interior of the machine. The head of edge, the pointer, and the pilot have very complete equipment for the night vision. Protection NBC is series. M2 Bradley is a very effective machine which plays a significant role in the American device interarmes, even if its detractors shows it to be too heavy and too ônéreux and questions its capacity to be operated with tanks M60 and M1.

Armament:
Gun of 25 mm, coaxial machine-gun of 7,62 mm, missiles TOW

Crew:
Bradley M2: 3 + 7 men
Bradley M 3: 3 + 2 men
Shielding:

Weight:
22 680 kg

Country users:
The United States

Speed:
66 km/h
Autonomy:
483 km
Equipment:
Night equipment of vision for all the crew, protection system NBC





 

Types :
Bradley M2:
fighting vehicle of infantry, one find six loopholes, 3 with the left back and 3 with the right back.
Bradley M3 fighting vehicle of cavalry, less place for the infantrymen