Bradley Fighting Vehicle

Base model

uparmored

"A troop transport that can't carry troops, a reconnaissance vehicle that's too conspicuous to do reconnaissance..."
"And a quasi-tank that has less armor than a snowblower, but has enough ammo to take out half of DC."

– The Pentagon Wars

The Big Fucking Vehicle Bradley Fighting Vehicle is the quintessential Infantry Fighting Vehicle. If you watched the movie Pentagon Wars starring Cary Elwes or played any sort of FPS or a wargame set during the modern era, you would already know what it is. The Bradley Fighting Vehicle was created in response to the Soviet Union's BMPs. It is obviously named after Second World War US General Omar Bradley.

In Team Yankee

The Bradley, like any good God-fearing American, is defined by it's impressive arsenal, particularly the TOW-2. As the most powerful missile mounted on an IFV in the game, the TOW-2 is capable of penetrating almost any tank from the front (curse those Germans and their insane armor values!), making hilariously short work of 3rd gen tanks like the Leopard 2, Merkava, and T-64 while also being capable of keeping gen 3.5 tanks like the Challenger and T-80 honest. On top of that, the Bradley is one of a select few vehicles that mounts a RoF 3/3 autocannon in the game, with the fully stabilized, AT8, fp 5+ M242 Bushmaster chaingun. A relatively easy gun to overlook compared to the God-tier missile, the moving RoF and stabilizer on the M242 make it a great weapon for liberating the shit out of the lightly armored BMPs and other support vehicles in your opponents army once you've cleaned out their MBTs, though the 5+ firepower can be relatively frustrating.

This would all be great, if it wasn't for one major issue: the armor. The Bradley, also like any God-fearing American, is fat and thin-skinned. Other vehicles get away with this by being relatively insignificant, but not the Bradley. No, the Bradley is fully capable of threatening everything in your opponents force, and if your enemy is keen to that (they are), your Bradleys will have a bad time. Armor 3/2/1 will protect you from enemy MGs and some of the lighter autocannons (pen 6 and below, don't go too crazy), but any tank, missile, or even heavy autocannon will go right through you ("Do you want me to put a sign on it in fifty languages saying I'm a troop transport not a tank?"). Uparmoring helps, bringing you up to 5/4/1 with 13 against all the rockets the infantry in this decade field, but it still struggles against most heavier autocannons and on top of that makes you eligible for deep reserves, forcing you to play a more offensive role. This problem is exacerbated by the moving RoF 0 of the Bradley's missile, forcing you to sit in sight of the enemy for a sec before you can actually shoot.

This is where the last of the Bradley's strengths come in. The mobility is decent, with a 10" move and all, but it has a 2+ cross. This lets the Bradley abuse cover to block enemy lines of sight and get in good firing positions.

A heavy arsenal and good cross country mobility contrasted with weak armor define the Bradley as a phenomenal ambush unit, exploitation vehicle, and backline support unit. Sneak around the flanks to your opponents artillery for a cheeky surprise. Leave them in ambush and pop them at just the right moment, shoving 12 autocannon or 4 AT23 missile shots down your opponents throat when he least expects it. If you don't have the option to put them in ambush, leaving them in woods or cover, gone to ground until the time is right often has a similar effect. If you get the first shot with these things, they'll do great. You let the enemy get the initiative, and you've lost.

In terms of difference between the M2 and M3, the M3 has 1 more Assault, and drops passengers for Spearhead and Scout.

IRL

[Ba! Ba! BAAAAAAAAA!]

As mentioned before the Bradley was a subject of the Pentagon Wars, two works of fiction presenting itself as a factual documentation of the Bradley's development but being anything but. Both the book created by Colonel James Burton and the movie are completely wrong with the role Burton played in the program and how we has portrayed, and swaths of events are completely bullshit. In reality, Burton's claims of the trials being rigged were both fueled by his misunderstandings to what the Bradley was capable of as a vehicle in its category, And also by his failure to see why using a HEAT-round ballistic test on a IFV that was already known to not have the capability to withstand such rounds is a waste of time. Burton believed that the Bradley was going to be an APC much like the M113 and that people just kept adding more cannons and missiles on to it. Not only is this retarded, it seems to undermine that from the very start of the program in 1965, the Bradley was meant to be and IFV in response to the soviets BMP1. Here's a video from Spookston which also shows some sources of his research on the subject in the description.

To be entirely fair to the Military-Industrial Complex, the Pentagon changed its mind about the program requirements and aspects of vehicle design over and over for fifteen years. They wanted it wheeled. No, tracked. No, wheeled again. They wanted a turret with an autocannon. No, a lightweight recoilless rifle. No, a missile launcher. No, we want an autocannon AND a missile launcher. And on and on. It is a small miracle that the program ever settled on a design checklist at all so that the manufacturers could finalize designs. Pentagon procurement policy has been like that more or less since Cold War. Fortunately, the Bradley would eventually become a reasonably successful vehicle (depending on who you ask). In real life the Bradley was finally adopted in 1981, four years before Team Yankee takes place.

Redesigned just in time for the Gulf War after Iraq invaded Kuwait, the Bradley is currently armed with a M242 Chaingun, TOW missiles, and a M240 Machine Gun. The TOW missiles, of course, are the vehicle's biggest threat. During Operation Desert Storm Bradleys killed more Iraqi Soviet Tanks and armored vehicles than the M1 Abrams. Most losses came from friendly fire incidents, as IFF systems weren't a thing until the early 2000's. The Bradley remains a flexible vehicle that can back up or substitute for the Abrams in both anti tank and urban warfare. However, due to the changing face of warfare with the proliferation of Anti-Tank missiles and Improvised Explosive Devices, it didn't do so well during the Iraq War of 2003-2011: during that period the US Army lost around 150 vehicles with around 700 damaged. Partially due to this the Army began to use the MRAPS after 2007, while Bradleys expecting to fight in urban conditions are often upgraded with the Urban Survival Kit.

In the 90's a hundred were converted into M6 Linebackers by replacing the TOWs with Stingers for short range anti-helicopter defense. While an effective system, the lack of air threats in the gulf conflicts meant most of these were converted back to TOWs to make up for losses.

The Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle is a updated version of the Bradley that will replace the M113, causing mindless fanboys like Mike Sparks to have autistic rage. The AMPV is a bit larger than a Bradley, though, with at least seventy percent of the vehicle being new, making the vehicle more of a cousin to the Bradley than a sibling. AMPVs can be fitted with a variety of weapons including a 30mm remote turret and Javelin Missiles, so now pretty much anything that can be put on top of a Stryker can also also be used by the AMPV.

The Bradley itself (not the AMPV) will be replaced with another IFV in the future; potential candidates include the ASCOD GDLS, the Griffin, or any other IFV selection for the Next Generation Combat Vehicle program, but any new vehicle probably won't be adopted until at least 2035. Due to the Pentagon's concurrency bullshit. At a pace this slow, America may as well start buying weapon systems directly from their European allies (BAE bought out United Defense making the European Union the largest arms supplier to the US). Most Bradleys will be upgraded with a 50mm autocannon before their final retirement. So we are going to assume that the NGCV will use the same weapon as its main gun. Effectively turning them into Light Tanks.

If you're wondering what the IRL difference between the M2 and M3 are, the latter is a Cavalry Fighting Vehicle, rather than an infantry one. Essentially this means that it carries a small scout section in exchange for better storage of ammunition and other recce related upgrades, allowing it to act as a cavalry style recon unit. And no, sadly Cavalry Fighting Vehicle does not imply it carries horses; what do you expect from a troop transport that can't carry a full squad?

M2s and Marders are part of aid slated to be sent to Ukraine. God help the poor bastard who faces them, because the Ukies sure as hell won't be showing any.