Hearted Youtube comments on Ryan McBeth (@RyanMcBethProgramming) channel.
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LOL! 😂
I know Bradleys because I was an M2A2 Bradley IFV 45T10 turret mechanic. You ship these bad boys to Ukraine and the Russians are in for a world of hurt.
Now I'm not saying that the M2 Bradley is the be-all, end-all of warfare in a "near-peer" engagement, but when you combine the firepower of the 25mm chain gun and the "hell-on-a-wire" of the TOW2 missile supporting a tank, some right serious shit's gonna go down.
Make no mistake, the M2 has it's flaws, but this is exactly the deployment the Bradley IFV was designed for.
Just to add a little background, I was the lead M2 turret services mechanic for 2/7 INF BN, 24th ID during my active duty days from 1992-95. My previous MOS was 12B10 Combat Engineer. I was attached to the scout platoon of HHC 2/7 as their "forward mechanic" and performed 12B duties as well. Any 45T mech worth a shit had a notebook of common M2 turret faults and how to fix them without busting out the STE-ICE diagnostic gear (think OBD-II tool the takes up an entire Snap-On van to haul around).
If you've got your head screwed on straight, keeping a Bradley in working order isn't a tough job. Once the crew learns the peculiarities of the system, they're good to go. The gun is fully stabilized and the TOW system (on early models) needs the M2 to be nearly stationary, but once you're familiar with the system, it's just fucking deadly.
Combine the Bradley's ability to suppress enemy armor and it's ability to haul infantry at "combat speed," using them in a combined-arms scenario with armor and artillery support vs the Russians is just gonna be a slaughter.
Remember: You can take ground with armor and/or air power. But you can't keep it without infantry. When you combine the speed of maneuver of armored warfare with the screening and holding power of infantry, you have a recipe for victory.
Yes, tank-on-tank warfare is usually decided by who gets the first shot. But when you have a tank, an IFV, and dismounted infantry looking for threats, the chance of being the one to see the enemy first goes up drastically. Tanks and IFVs at best have two persons each scanning for threats. When you add a dismounted infantry squad you get six more sets of eyes on the battlefield with the M2.
Now if we compare a the "eyes" available between an M2 Bradley paired with a modern tank and a BMP2 similarly paired with a modern tank, the BMP comes out ahead as they generally carry 7 troops vs the Bradley's 6 - so you get 10 sets of eyes with a Bradley and tank vs the 11 sets with a BMP2 and a tank.
However, the Russians don't use them in this manner. Doctrine notwithstanding, Russian commanders aren't using IFVs and tanks in "combined-arms" settings. This means that a proper M2/MBT (main battle tank) pairing has 10 sets of eyes scanning for targets vs the Russian's two sets.
When armor kills are generally decided by who sees whom first, you do the math.
And when a Bradley lases your position, you're going to experience a "significant emotional event".
Segway:
I drove an M113 as a "combat mechanic" on active duty. They get a lot of shit for their shortcomings, but I can say first hand that they can drive places an infantryman can't walk.
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My plan would be a variation of Ryan's ; the Bradley probably carries 2 Javelins, as well as one M249 gunner. Here are the various steps :
1) The automatic rifleman with his M249 sneakily takes position around the top of Hill 127, to ensure he has a good field of fire, especially on the T-72. If 3 crewmen disembark from the T-72 and don't show signs of surrendering, he should gun them down, or at least suppress them.
2) The Javelin team fires at the T-72, from a position at least 30m away from the M249 and 100m away from the M2, and immediately takes cover to reload.
3) If the T-72 isn't destroyed, the M2 fires a TOW.
4) If the T-72 isn't destroyed, the M2 fires a second TOW.
5) If the T-72 isn't destroyed, the M2 uses its M242 on the T-72. At the same time, if the T-72's tank commander pops his head out of the turret, the AR hoses the tank commander, killing him or reducing the tank's situational awareness.
6) As soon as 5) begins, the Javelin team runs to a firing position to engage the T-72 with its last missile, and then immediately runs away.
With up to 2 Javelins and 2 TOWs fired at the T-72, as well as several bursts of the M242, I doubt the T-72 would still be combat effective.
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