US M2A3 Bradley Crews Qualify in Bulgaria Reinforcing NATO’s Eastern Flank Deterrence.

U.S. Army M2A3 Bradley crews completed live-fire qualification at Novo Selo Training Area in Bulgaria. The certification strengthens NATO’s eastern flank readiness and signals continued deterrence against Russian aggression.

The US Army has completed its Bradley live-fire qualification at Novo Selo, a largely nighttime event where the luminous trails from tracer rounds fired by M2A3 Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles marked each engagement in clear arcs over the range. The battalion ran six gunnery tables by day and night with about forty vehicles to certify crews in target detection, opening fire, and maneuver. Leaders on-site presented the exercise as a required step rather than a demonstration. Crews must qualify before moving to group, section, and platoon live-fire stages, then to the combined arms phase. The sequence is well established, though conducting it in Bulgaria adds distance from home station and a few additional variables. The logic remains straightforward: build the crews first, then scale up.
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An M2A3 Bradley from 1-16 Infantry, 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division engages targets during live fire qualification (Picture source: US DoD)

The Bradley is central to this training. The M2A3 variant mounts a 25 mm M242 Bushmaster chain gun as the main armament, a coaxial 7.62 mm machine gun for suppressive fire, and a twin launcher for TOW anti-tank missiles fired from the tube and guided by wire. This mix allows the three-person crew to shift from area suppression to precise anti-armor engagements without changing platform or posture. The A3 fire-control system, digital architecture, and the commander’s independent viewer help the turret crew sort targets quickly and hand off engagements with fewer verbal steps. On a night range, where time to first round matters and errors accumulate, this has practical effects.

Each vehicle is operated by a crew of three, with infantry carried in the rear. The gunner’s sights and the commander’s viewer provide day and thermal channels, and stabilization keeps the 25 mm on target while moving. The chain gun’s selectable rates of fire and ammunition types give the gunner flexibility, from armor-piercing sabot for hard targets to high explosive for lighter vehicles and exposed positions. TOW missiles cover longer-range armored threats and hardened points that the 25 mm struggles to defeat. The technology is not new, but when tables run at night, precise sight pictures and clear crew communication tend to separate clean runs from uneven ones.

Maintenance and preparation form the quieter half of the work. Before the first shot, crews confirm boresight, align optics, fill ready racks, and check turret stabilization. They also clear fault codes and verify that the digital systems are consistent. On ranges like Novo Selo, dust and wind can turn small discrepancies into larger ones, especially in thermal contrast. This is where experienced master gunners add value. Sergeant First Class Tyler Beard, the battalion’s master gunner, noted that certification goes beyond compliance. Qualified crews deter because qualified crews are ready to fight. It is also the point where personnel begin to trust their own systems rather than abstract descriptions of them.

Tactically, at the scale of a single Bradley, the focus is tempo and angles. A crew that can move, halt, lase, and fire within an opponent’s reaction time gains the advantage, especially in low visibility. The A3 digital architecture reduces the manual steps between detection and firing. Gunnery tables build those habits under stress. Day iterations confirm fundamentals. Night iterations enforce discipline on range estimation, reticle control, and burst management. The aim is to keep the vehicle in the fight without wasting ammunition or exposing the hull longer than necessary. When the unit moves to section and platoon live fire, the same habits apply at a different pace. Overlapping fields of fire, ammunition carriage choices, and concise voice procedures often determine whether synchronization is crisp or whether vehicles hesitate while searching for targets.

Operationally, the Bradley’s value lies in transporting infantry under armor and then providing accurate, sustained fires while remaining mobile. On a site like Novo Selo, crews practice these transitions. They rehearse short bounds under observation, learn when to shift from 25 mm to TOW, and train the handover between commander and gunner when several targets appear in the same sector. It is not designed for spectacle. It is the steady work of reducing friction so that later, in a larger exercise, the platoon fights as a single system rather than four vehicles acting in parallel.

The setting also matters. The Novo Selo Training Area in Bulgaria is part of a NATO training network used by rotating US and allied units along the Eastern Flank. Running crew qualification in Bulgaria is not a public showcase. It is a logistics and readiness activity that positions certified elements closer to where they might be required. That proximity carries an implicit message. While the battalion focused on its tables and lanes, the European security environment remains shaped by Russia’s large-scale war in Ukraine and the risk of spillover. Allies along the Black Sea track these rotations closely. Qualified US crews add weight to collective defense and maintain the routines that allow American and allied forces to share ranges, safety standards, and expectations for live fire.