On Tuesday, the Pentagon announced the first details about the armored vehicle that is slated to replace the US Army’s M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicle (IFV), which has been in service since the 1980s. US and Russian military experts said the Bradley, which has recently been exported to the battlefields of Ukraine, is obsolete and inferior to its Russian-made counterparts.
The Bradley’s replacement, which will enter service in 2029, will be called the XM30 Mechanized Infantry Combat Vehicle (MICV). According to reports, the new vehicle won’t be much different from the Bradley: it will still carry six troopers and look largely the same, but will only require a crew of two instead of three, thanks to increased automation. In addition, its main gun will be doubled in size to a 50-millimeter autogun, which will be able to be fired remotely from inside the vehicle.
The XM30 will also be slightly larger than a Bradley, with a C-17 Globemaster III transport plane able to carry just two of them instead of three, as it can do with the Bradleys.
Paul E. Vallely, Retired US Army Major General and Chairman of Stand Up America US Foundation, told Sputnik that the US was sending obsolete vehicles to Ukraine because it has long produced them for cheap, but noted the Pentagon may not be able to stomach the cost of replacing the Bradleys.
“The Bradleys are very old vehicles now, and so I think that's the reason that they're dumping them out, is to get rid of them and give them to Ukraine,” he said.
Indeed, Washington has sent more than 60 Bradley IFVs to Ukraine to buttress Kiev’s armored forces, but it’s already lost at least 16 of them in combat, many during assaults on the Surovikin Defensive Line.
Vallely noted that the US also left “hundreds” of Bradleys in Afghanistan as well, as US forces beat a hasty retreat as the Taliban* crushed the US-backed government in August 2021. However, it still has plenty in its inventory to give to Ukraine, thanks to mass manufacturing developed over the last several decades of the Bradley’s use.
“We're not developing a lot of new vehicles now. We're basically taking the ones that we have that are in manufacturing plants and they're building them. Well, they're building new vehicles, of course, constantly, just like ammunition,” he said. “But these vehicles take a long time to build.”
The former general predicted that the $45 billion XM30 program might ultimately get canceled, just as several other attempts at developing replacements for the Bradley have been, because of political decisions being made in Washington.
“The United States keeps printing money, you know. We're in debt, the American economy is in debt $35 trillion. And they cannot continue just to print money, which is not backed by anything. So it's not good, and Congress is actually who controls the money, [they] have programs now to cut back the money that's going in to support Ukraine. It's not a given. It's not for sure that that will happen. They may not have the money to build them.”
Military expert and retired Russian Army Col. Anatoliy Matviychuk, a veteran of combat operations in Afghanistan and Syria, told Sputnik that from the beginning, the Bradley was outmatched by the vehicle it was supposed to counter, the Soviet-built BMP-2 IFV, and today is totally outclassed by the BMP-3, which can go toe-to-toe with the best Western main battle tanks.
“Let's take the BMP-2 and BMP-3, which are in service with the Russian Army. These infantry fighting vehicles are designed to increase the firepower of a motorized rifle squad [“armored cavalry” in American parlance], transport personnel and support them with fire on the battlefield, as well as to overcome various kinds of obstacles, including those created artificially. The vehicles have anti-nuclear protection,” he explained.
“The Americans tried to recreate something similar in the Bradley, but it turned out very interesting: while our infantry fighting vehicle can float, theirs [the American Bradley IFV] does not. In order for her to overcome water obstacles, it is necessary either to build pontoons, or to make auxiliary equipment in the form of inflatable bags.”
“Our BMP-3 is armed with a 30-millimeter cannon, a 100-millimeter cannon, a 7.62-millimeter machine gun, a sufficiently large number of automatic grenade launchers, and can be fitted out with portable anti-aircraft missile systems. Bradleys have either 20-millimeter or 25-millimeter guns and a 7.62-millimeter machine gun.”
“In terms of firepower, our infantry fighting vehicle is far superior to them. And one more thing: our infantry fighting vehicle is very stable in terms of moving over rough terrain. The American infantry fighting vehicle is designed so that its center of gravity is shifted. And if used incorrectly, they very often tip over, and an obstacle of more than 30 degrees is almost insurmountable for them.”
BMP 3 armored vehicle showcased at the 2nd International Forum 'Engineering Technologies 2012' in Zhukovsky outside Moscow
© Sputnik / Ramil Sitdikov
/ Matviychuk observed that while the Bradley’s height gives it an observational advantage, it also makes it “very convenient to aim at it.”
“The Bradley is a rather tall vehicle, clearly visible against the background of the terrain, which allows the use of all types of weapons on it with a fairly good aiming range. That is, it attracts projectiles to itself.”
“The armor is so thin that it does not meaningfully protect [the crew] against the main means of destruction, which are our 100-mm anti-tank guns and, of course, portable anti-tank systems. And one more thing - the vehicle is very difficult to maneuver in muddy conditions, and in winter conditions, it practically cannot maneuver at all to overcome snowdrifts and ice obstacles,” he said.
“Our BMP-2 and BMP-3 can do all this, since we made them to be all-terrain vehicles. For example, the BMP-2, in addition to firing at ground targets, is also perfectly capable of attacking aerial targets, in particular fire support helicopters. The BMP-3 has a 30-mm cannon for supporting attacking infantry and lightly armored targets, and an anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) can be fired from the barrel of the 100-mm cannon. She can fight heavy enemy tanks like the Leopard 2 and Abrams.”
“That is, our machine is much superior to Bradley's combat capabilities in this regard,” Matviychuk concluded.
* Under UN sanctions for terrorist activities