U.S. Infantry Fighting Vehicle M2A3 Bradley w/Busk III

Meng 1/72

The M2 Bradley, or Bradley IFV, is an American infantry fighting vehicle that is a member of the Bradley Fighting Vehicle family. It is manufactured by BAE Systems Land & Armaments (formerly United Defense) and entered service in 1981, with fielding beginning in 1983.

The Bradley is designed for reconnaissance and to transport a
nine-man rifle squad, providing them protection from small arms fire,
while providing firepower to both suppress and eliminate most threats to
friendly infantry. It is designed to be highly maneuverable and to be
fast enough to keep up with heavy armor during an advance. The M2 holds a
crew of three: a commander, a gunner, and a driver, and can carry six
fully equipped soldiers as passengers.

In the year 2000 the total cost of the program was US$5,664,100,000 for 1,602 units, giving an average unit cost of $3,166,000, equivalent to $5,841,000 in 2025.

M2A3

Introduced in 2000, the A3 upgrades make the Bradley IFV totally
digital, with upgraded or improved existing electronics systems
throughout, improving target acquisition and fire control, navigation,
and situational awareness. The survivability of the vehicle was upgraded
with a series of armor improvements, again both passive and reactive,
as well as improved fire-suppression systems and NBC equipment.^[58]

The A3 Bradley incorporates the Improved Bradley Acquisition
Subsystem (IBAS) and the Commander's Independent Viewer (CIV). Both
include a second-generation forward looking infrared
(FLIR) and an electro-optical/TV imaging system. The IBAS has
direct-view optics (DVO) and the eye-safe laser rangefinder (ELRF).The CIV allows the commander to scan for targets and maintain
situational awareness while remaining under armor, and without
interfering with the gunner's acquisition and engagement of targets.

The A3's fire control software (FCSW) combines laser range,
environmental readings, ammunition type, and turret control inputs to
automatically elevate the gun for range and to automatically generate a
kinematic lead solution if a target is moving. This functionality, very similar to that of the M1A2 Abrams, allows the
gunner or commander to center the reticule on a moving target, lase the
target, and achieve a first-round-hit, without the need to fire sensing
rounds and adjust aim. The FCSW incorporates a thermal aided target tracker (ATT) function
that can track two targets in the FLIR field of view and switch between
them, primarily intended for employing TOW missiles against moving
vehicles. The FCSW allows the turret and gunner's sights to be slewed automatically onto a target that has been designated with the CIV.

The A3 Bradley uses a position-navigation subsystem that incorporates a global positioning system (GPS), an inertial navigation unit (INU), and a vehicle motion sensor (MVS), which, in addition to allowing accurate own-vehicle navigation, allows
accurate position reporting and the ability to hand-off designated
targets to other units via FBCB2.

The Commander's Tactical Display (CTD) presents information from
the FBCB2 and the vehicle navigation systems on a moving-map display.
This allows the commander to communicate via text over FBCB2, and allows
him to check vehicle built-in test (BIT) information and access various
other information. The Squad Leader's Display (SLD) in the infantry compartment improves
the situational awareness of the passengers by allowing them to view
navigational information from the FBCB2 and imagery from the IBAS, CIV,
or Driver's Vision Enhancer (DVE) to familiarize themselves with their
surroundings prior to dismounting.

The M2A3 Bradley II, and an M2A3 Bradley variant used in Iraq, were included in the GCV Analysis of Alternatives