US Army deploys M2A4 Bradleys to Estonia
I honestly like it. Especially with the multi-colored road wheels to add a bit of color. Article mentions that the A4 has enhanced armor. I don’t see anything different, are the upgrades visible or on the inside?
Good contrast shot of the newer olive/brown green with the NATO green on the road wheels.
I think that color is (despite the picture shadowing and lighting) the so-called Bronze Green reported in Ukraine and Australia.
I don’t see the APS that is supposed to come with this. (Ironclad)
AFAIK, the protection is the APS and the BRAT II ERA. BAE claims to have redesigned the hull to accept “more”. The interior is taller by several inches, and the bottom has thicker armor.
Regarding the taller interior, did they raise the roofline of the hull or did the figure out some other way to buy some additional headroom? Do the BRAT II tiles look any different than the earlier ones, if so, any pics out there that illustrate this?
@11bravo / John
I read raised. I’ve not seen one on Fort Benning yet. Will look Monday. Purpose was to minimize IED injuries from directly below: seats are suspended too.
All respect to BAE, one of my favortie companies - but I don’t see it. Having been inside the A4, and having photogrpahed it every way possible, I don’t see how it’s possible. You can’t lower the floor either. And having read the same information three years ago, I asked the HMFIC at their Facility in Fort Cervezas, and he didn’t think there was any change either.
As for the armor - yes, you can see from the photo that the two turret armor plates closest to the viewer are thicker than on the A3 variant. (which makes sense)
Probably a stupid question but I’m out of the loop on current armor kits (mostly been building aircraft for the last few years) - is there a decent 35th scale kit of the A4 out there?
Decent? As in it looks like a Bradley? Yes, I suppose you could call it that, Magic Factory continues to milk the use of their so-so molds to brings us new iterations. While “it looks really nice” to some, I find the original A4 kit to be a regression from what I call the Gen III Bradley kits. They are of course the only game in town, but we could have gotten a much better product.
This starts to address some of the problems.
I like the color
that color sort of reminds me of gelbolive.
Here’s my take on where there may be some misinformation floating about. Some of these technicians don’t know much more about a new system, i.e. the V3 Abrams, than the particualar widget they are assigned to installing/replacing. Several years ago, when I took and published the first good photos of the V3 on this forum, I had a talk with one of those techs. He knew nothing of the new tow points, or the tow cables. His purview was some of the inner workings in the turret, and nothing else.
Talk to the wrong BAE rep, and he may be confusing the A4 with the AMPV. I see can that. The AMPV does have more headroom. And there is more room on the sides for BRAT, although for them to claim they enlarged the hull to facilitate more BRAT doesn’t make much sense. That’s like enlarging your roof so you can add more cooling fans,
There is simply more real estate on the AMPV sides due to their design, and to cover it you need more reactive tiles.
And the hull bottom does appear to be more heavily armored than A4 Bradleys.
All I can say is BAE reported it for the M2A4. I read it, but didn’t record it.
Here are some better pics of that color:
The E1 is a whole ‘nother animal, as they say. And some of the things mentioned above are features of the E1 variant. They are not expecting to see that any time soon in Ft Benning or Ft. Cavazos. I only know because I asked.
Not Australia Ted. Unless I see a pic of that vehicle in the sunlight, the colour on that Bradley appears a lot browner than any vehicles I’ve seen here that were repainted for Ukraine. The ‘Bronze Green’ I’ve seen (& raised in another discussion on this forum) our Bushmaster’s repainted into looks very similar to the German Bronze Green.
Unless our RAEME SURFies have specifically procured a particular paint to recoat the Bushmaster’s, I’d expect they’ve used extant supply
I dunno, to me, that looks like NATO green in crappy lighting conditions.
That plywood applique armour is pretty cool too.
what plywood applique armor?
Talking with the service members here who said they have A4’s. They are painted in the old NATO camo pattern and all the addons are desert color IE reactive brackets, external electronic devices etc.
First post pic has plywood placed on the side of the vehicle.
That plywood is often used on the floor of the aircraft to limit track/tread damage.
