In the Iraq War, the Bradley proved vulnerable to improvised explosive device and rocket-propelled grenade attacks, but casualties were light with the crew able to escape. In 2006, total losses included 55 Bradleys destroyed and some 700 others damaged. By the end of the war, about 150 Bradleys had been destroyed.
While in Operation Iraqi Freedom, there were increased losses of up to around 150 Bradleys because of their vulnerability to improvised explosive devices and rocket-propelled grenade attacks. The casualties were light, with the crew being able to escape.
A Bradley IFV burns after being hit during the Battle of 73 Easting, one of only three Bradleys lost to the Iraqis, February 1991. During the Persian Gulf War, M2 Bradleys destroyed more Iraqi armored vehicles than the M1 Abrams. Twenty Bradleys were lost—three by enemy fire and 17 due to friendly fire incidents.
Nearly a third of the Bradley armored vehicles the US provided Ukraine may have already been lost or damaged. The US has provided Ukraine with at least 100 Bradley armored personnel carriers. Open source data indicates that 34 of them have now been abandoned, damaged, or destroyed.
About a dozen Bradleys have been destroyed, a senior U.S. defense official said. Data from Oryx, a military analysis site that counts losses it has visually confirmed, shows that a couple dozen more have been damaged to varying degrees. Many have been fixed and returned to the battlefield.
By the end of the war, about 150 Bradleys had been destroyed. During Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the US donated about 109 Bradleys to Ukraine's armed forces. Ukraine's first documented use of Bradleys occurred in the Zaporizhzhia region after Ukraine launched its southern counteroffensive in June 2023.
The American Bradley
“The Bradley is an effective armored personnel carrier that is capable of conquering challenging terrain that humvees and other non-tracked vehicles cannot,” says George Barros, an analyst on the Russia and Ukraine portfolio at the Institute for the Study of War, in an emailed statement to TIME.
Russia has highly likely lost around forty Ka-52s since the invasion, but the type has also imposed a heavy cost on Ukraine,” the British ministry said in an intelligence update.
How many Bradleys does the United States have? The U.S. has about 4,000 Bradleys total.
The Military Balance put Russia's operational tanks at 1,800 at the start of 2023, but the current Oryx tally of Russian tank losses stands at 2,082 since February 2022. Accurate figures of equipment losses are very difficult to verify on both sides.
Colonel Maggart, commander of one of two brigades that led assaults on a key line of Iraqi defenses, said in a telephone interview from Fort Riley, Kan., that between 80 and 250 Iraqis had been buried alive. Army officials said the First Infantry's experiences had been the only incidents of live burials during the war.
The Iconic American Infantry Fighting Vehicle
The M2 Bradley (and the derivated M3 recce version), has been proven in combat in the Middle East, from the 1991 Gulf War to the invasion of Iraq and aftermath, as well as the intervention in Afghanistan.
A total of 23 M1A1s were damaged or destroyed during the war. Of the nine Abrams tanks destroyed, seven were destroyed by friendly fire and two intentionally destroyed to prevent capture by the Iraqi Army. Some others took minor combat damage, with little effect on their operational readiness.
The M-2 that knocked out two Russian tanks. In a single furious skirmish in southern Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia Oblast, the three-man crew of an M-2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicle belonging to the Ukrainian army's 47th Mechanized Brigade reportedly knocked out two Russian T-72 tanks.
Actually yes, you CAN.
After Ukrainian automatic cannon fire took out the infantry Russian forces declared a "real hunt" by introducing two T-72s onto the battlefield, Maliar wrote, according to The New Voice of Ukraine's translation. But both tanks were destroyed by the Bradley's heavy TOW anti-tank missiles, Maliar said.
The U.S. Army has announced the finalists in its competition to replace the aging Bradley infantry fighting vehicle (IFV). Formerly known as the Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle (OMFV), the service announced that the new vehicle will be designated the XM30 Mechanized Infantry Combat Vehicle.
The most effective way to destroy the Bradley is explosives (such as the RPG) or other heavy weapons such as the Tau Cannon.
The Army plans to acquire more than 700 of the new M2A4 Bradleys through 2029. Each vehicle costs roughly $4.35 million. The Army plans to continue providing field units with the M2A4 variant until the new Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle is produced, which will eventually replace the Bradley.
The Ka-52 is nimbler and has more firepower than the American helicopter, but the Apache's drone technology is superior to the Russian aircraft.
Dutch open-source intelligence group Oryx said that 38 Russian Ka-52 attack helicopters have been visually confirmed as lost since the start of the invasion.
With more than 1,280 aircraft in operation accumulating over five million flight hours, 1.3 million of which have been in combat, the AH-64 Apache represents the backbone of the U.S. Army's attack helicopter fleet and a growing number of international defense forces.
The Bradley is a powerful weapon platform that has the ability to destroy enemy tanks. It can also be used to scout the battlefield and to rapidly move small numbers of infantry in relative safety.
“A Bradley could be better than a tank, in a way, because of the maintenance,” Akopian said. Ukraine has repeatedly asked the West for tanks. America's M1 Abrams tank is three times the size of a Bradley and also has a more powerful gun and better armour, but it is heavier and uses jet fuel, not diesel.
Bradleys have lighter armor and a much smaller gun, typically 25 mm compared to the Abrams' 120 mm. They're made to move quickly on the battlefield and carry up to eight infantrymen into combat, though other variants drop the infantry carrying capacity to serve other missions, instead.