Ukraine’s Bradley IFV is destroying Russia’s T-90 tanks and MT-LB IFV

The American-made M-2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicle is not a tank. It’s an armed vehicle for infantry.

But with a little luck and a lot of crew prowess, the 30-ton, 11-person M-2—with its 25-millimetre auto-cannon, turret-mounted TOW anti-tank missiles and side-mounted reactive armour—is more than a match for even the best Russian-made tank.

⚡️🇺🇦Ukrainian IFV M2A2 "Bradley" fires from a 25 mm gun at a 🇷🇺Russian MT-LB near the village of Solovyove, Donetsk region pic.twitter.com/uQ7vx94Z0M

— 🇺🇦Ukrainian Front (@front_ukrainian) May 1, 2024

This isn’t hype. In a recent skirmish on the outskirts of Avdiivka in northeastern Ukraine, a pair of M-2s belonging to the Ukrainian army’s 47th Mechanized Brigade—the sole user of the roughly 200 M-2s the United States donated to Ukraine—tag-teamed a Russian army T-90 tank. And wrecked it.

“This tank got fucking ganked,” open-source analyst Andrew Perpetua mused.

Ukrainian IFV M2A2 “Bradley” fires from a 25 mm gun at a Russian MT-LB near the village of Solovyove, Donetsk region.

Bradley IFV of the 47th Brigade of Ukraine engages in a battle with Russian T-90M, Avdiivka front. (Bradley is in foreground while T-90M is in the middle of the village). At the end of the video it’s visible that tank most likely received significant damage as the crew cannot… pic.twitter.com/uutTexfXf5

— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) January 12, 2024

The brief, brutal fight—one of hundreds that have raged in the three months since two Russian field armies with 40,000 troops first attempted to surround the 10,000-strong Ukrainian garrison in Avdiivka—was observed by a Ukrainian drone.

In the drone’s video, which circulated online on Friday, a pair of M-2s engages a single T-90.

On paper, an M-2—even two M-2s—is no match for a 51-ton, three-person T-90 with its 125-millimeter smoothbore gun and hundreds of millimeters of composite armor.

But after seven months of non-stop fighting, during which the 47th Brigade has lost at least 31 M-2s, the brigade’s Bradley crews might be the best in the world. Better, even, than U.S. Army crews are.

The T-90 gets the first shot—and misses. After that, the M-2s out-maneuver and out-shoot the T-90. One M-2 peppers the tank with 25-millimeter rounds as it speeds past. A second M-2, rolling the opposite direction, takes over where the first leaves off—and pours auto-cannon rounds into the tank at close range.

An M-2’s auto-cannon fires one-pound shells at a rate of 200 per minute and a velocity of 3,600 feet per second. Paired with high-fidelity optics and accurate fire-controls, the 25-millimeter gun is brutally effective.

In one clash outside Avdiivka, a single M-2 struck and likely destroyed three Russian MT-LB armored tractors in the span of just 30 seconds.

A T-90 is much better-protected than an MT-LB is, but it doesn’t matter. The Bradley’s unrelenting fire apparently kills the T-90’s driver and commander and leaves the tank badly-damaged and uncontrollable.

Turret spinning, the T-90 rolls into a tree. “Russian tech and training such a shit-show,” Perpetua laughed.

If and when pro-Russia Republicans ever relent and finally approve $61 billion U.S. president Joe Biden wants to spend on military aid to Ukraine this year, that aid should pay for additional M-2s.

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