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Soldier Armed - Bradley A3
06/01/2005
Bradley A3
June 2005
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By Scott R. Gourley
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Since initially entering production in the early 1980s, the Bradley fighting vehicle has been continually enhanced to meet and exceed the requirements of changing battlefields and dynamic scenarios. The latest enhancement package is the Bradley A3, fielded in either M2A3 infantry or M3A3 cavalry variant, which provides warfighters with a technologically advanced, highly mobile, digital fighting system with significantly increased lethality and survivability characteristics in current operating environments.
U.S. Army program descriptions state that the Bradleys provide “protected transport of an infantry squad on the battlefield and overwatching fires to support the dismounted infantry; are employed to suppress and defeat enemy tanks, reconnaissance vehicles, infantry fighting vehicles, armored personnel carriers, bunkers, dismounted infantry and attack helicopters; and perform cavalry scout and other essential [Bradley-equipped fire support and Stinger teams] missions in the 21st century. The infantry version (M2) is used most often to close with the enemy by means of fire and maneuver. The primary tasks performed by the cavalry version (M3) as part of a troop and/or squadron are reconnaissance, security and flank guard missions.”
The A3 models have a combat loaded weight of 64,000 pounds (29,030 kilograms) without armor tiles and 72,000 pounds (32,659 kilograms) with armor tiles. A power train package consisting of a 600 hp Cummins VTA-903T diesel engine and GM-Allison HMPT-500-3SEC hydro-mechanical automatic transmission provides horsepower-to-ton ratios of 18.7 without armor tiles and 16.7 with armor tile package, translating to a road speed of approximately 38 mph (61 km/h) on a cruising range of approximately 250 miles.
Integral lethality characteristics for the M2A3/M3A3 come from an armament package that includes the 25-mm M242 Bushmaster cannon, TOW II missile system, and 7.62-mm M240C machine gun. Additional firepower capabilities include firing port weapons, onboard stowage of machine gun (7.62-mm M60 or M240C) and stowage of three AT-4 missiles. As a reflection of mission differences, the M2A3 has a standard crew of nine (three crew with six dismounts) while the M3A3 has a crew of five (three crew with two dismounts).
Enhancements incorporated into the A3 package include two second-generation forward-looking infrared sensors in the improved Bradley acquisition system and the commander’s independent viewer (CIV) that provide a hunter-killer target handoff capability; a ballistic fire control system; embedded diagnostics; integrated combat command and control digital communications suite hosting Force XXI battle command-brigade and below (FBCB2) package with digital maps, messages and friend/foe situational awareness; position navigation system with GPS and inertial navigation system; and enhanced squad situational awareness with squad leader display integrated into vehicle digital images.
“For a lot of years it was viewed by some as a heavy Cold War system,” observed Andy Hove, director of Bradley combat systems for the Bradley prime contractor, United Defense. “Yet it turns out that many of the things that we did on the A3—clearly with the view that we would be involved in open terrain fights—have proven to be extremely effective in how the A3 performs in the current operating environment.”
As specific examples of the A3 features that have facilitated urban operations, Hove pointed to features like the commander’s independent viewer, integrated FBCB2 and new electric turret drives that allow the gun to elevate to very high angles.
“As it turns out, while it was designed for the Cold War, if you will, it’s turned out to be a remarkably effective vehicle in the urban environment,” Hove explained. “The commander’s independent viewer, for example, has become a key attribute of the vehicle—one that has really helped them fight in the current operating environment. The FBCB2, which is fully integrated in the fully digitized A3 system, allows them to move sight pictures from the CIV to the gunner’s sight to the driver’s sight, to any one of the displays throughout the vehicle. That full digital architecture allows everybody in the vehicle to have that full situational awareness of what’s going on—and at very close quarters.
“Although clearly it wasn’t designed for the urban fight, it has turned out to be a very robust, very capable vehicle in that fight,” he added.
Several recent contract awards have expanded the number of Bradley A3 variants that will be fielded in U.S. Army inventories.
One recent example was a February 2005 change order to a June 2004 contract. Under the contract change, rather than remanufacturing existing vehicles to incorporate selected OIF enhancements, United Defense will instead perform A3 upgrades to provide 80 Bradley M2A3 infantry fighting vehicles, 29 Bradley M3A3 cavalry fighting vehicles and 11 Bradley A3 fire support vehicles (A3 B-FIST) to the Army. Less than two months later, the contractor received a separate contract award to remanufacture and upgrade 55 additional vehicles into fully digitized A3 configuration.
As of this writing, the Army has ordered a total of 595 upgraded Bradley A3 models with approximately 100 still to be delivered by the contractor.
“Part of the reason I think the Army is moving forward on buying more A3s is that the A3 performs so well in the current operating environment,” Hove said. “In fact, one of the key things going on with the Bradley is the expanding breadth of its mission roles. It is still the world’s premier infantry fighting vehicle and the bulk of the Bradleys out there support the dismounted infantry squad. But increasingly the Bradley is fulfilling a lot of different roles in the heavy brigade combat team. Not only does it perform the infantry fighting vehicle role, it’s performing the cavalry fighting vehicle role and the scout role. It’s performing the indirect fire support vehicle role, carrying the forward observer and all of his fire direction equipment, and increasingly becoming not only a forward observer for field artillery but also bringing all of the joint fires to the battlefield for the heavy brigade combat team on the B-FIST. It’s supporting the engineer squad and carrying them on their mission. And we also have a new version we’re working on to support the brigade commander and the deputy brigade commander in the heavy brigade combat team. We produced four of those for 4th Infantry Division (Mechanized) immediately preceding the war.
And the Army has pretty much taken that as a standard variant and put it into the organizational structure of the heavy brigade combat teams. It will be called the Bradley command vehicle and it will carry the equipment that will allow them to do battle command on the move.
“There’s certainly room for improvement,” Hove emphasized, “We are out there working with our government project manager to get feedback directly from the users so that we can continue to improve the product.”
It is believed that the Army intends to order additional A3 platform upgrades—based on demonstrated performance and mission expansion—as funding becomes available. |
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