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It’s even adapted to modern threats in some cases. For instance, a video released by Ukraine’s defense ministry in June shows a Bradley even taking out a Russian drone using its guns.
In head-to-head battles with Russian tanks, the Bradley lacks the combat power of the heavily-armed, heavily-armored tanks, but its chain gun has a rapid rate of fire that can prove effective.
Gressel said that even if the Bradley “can’t penetrate a [Russian tank] with the autocannon, the autocannon immobilises the Russian tanks, and usually damages either their cannons and/or optics.”
Learning lessons from the war
The US is drawing lessons from the war in Ukraine and the way it is using the Bradleys.
Parakilas, the RAND analyst, said that the Pentagon is modifying the Bradley vehicles to better defend them against the drone and air attacks that proved devastating against the western-supplied armored vehicles in summer 2023.
The US, he said, is integrating weapons that can “intercept incoming threats before they can strike the vehicle.”
Ukraine has received 300 Bradleys, of which they’ve lost at least 90, according to open-source trackers. The vehicles, which came in roughly 10 times the numbers as Abrams tanks, have proven tremendously valuable to Ukraine on the front line as all-purpose vehicles, even with the threats they face. And a big part of that goes back to usage.
“It’s pretty clear that the Ukrainians are using Bradleys as jacks of all trades and, given their high value and limited numbers, keeping them separate to prevent a single attack from destroying more than one at a time,” said Parakilas.