An intriguing photo has emerged of an M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicle (IFV) captured by Russia and fitted with a Russian-made 30mm cannon in place of the vehicle’s original Bushmaster M242 25mm automatic cannon. Whether the installation is intended for operational use, for trials, or for some different purpose is unclear, but other unorthodox modifications to armored vehicles have appeared since the start of the war in Ukraine.
The Bradley seen in the photo is one of the examples captured largely intact by Russia from the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The location and date of the photo are unknown, as is the original source, but the Bradley in question seems to be in a depot alongside other Western-supplied armor captured from the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
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Some wondered how can Russians use the Bradley if they don’t have ammo for it. Well, that’s how:
“Russian repairmen installed a domestic 30mm 2A72 cannon on a captured Bradley instead of the chain-driven Bushmaster.” pic.twitter.com/m4SZhfVKQe
You can read all about the Bradley and what it brings to the fight in Ukraine in this past feature of ours.
Most interestingly, Russian technicians have replaced the Bushmaster with what appears to be a 30mm 2A72 cannon, probably best known as the main gun of the BTR-82 wheeled armored personnel carrier.
The 2A72 is a reduced-weight development of the widely used 2A42, also a 30mm weapon, which arms the BMP-2 infantry combat vehicle, BMD-2 and BMD-3 airborne combat vehicles, BTR-90 armored personnel carrier, as well as Ka-52 Hokum and Mi-28 Havoc attack helicopters.
The 2A72 has a rate of fire of 330 rounds per minute, sending its ammunition to an effective range of almost a mile against an armored vehicle. This is a notably faster rate of fire than the already impressive 200 rounds per minute achieved by the Bushmaster.
Against soft targets, such as infantry, the effective range of the 2A72 is increased to around 1.2 miles. Ammunition options include armor-piercing-tracer (AP-T), high-explosive fragmentation-incendiary (HEF-I), and high-explosive-tracer (HE-T) ammunition.
A Russian Ministry of Defense video shows the 2A72 gun in action on a BTR-82A during an exercise:
As for the Bushmaster, this is a weapon that we have discussed before, in the context of the Bradley being used in Ukraine. The Bushmaster can fire two different types of ammunition, fed from boxes via chutes into the autoloader. The gunner, sitting to the left of the tank commander, can flip a switch to select between high-explosive (HE) rounds to strike lightly armored vehicles or depleted uranium (DU) armor-piercing sabot rounds to hit more heavily armored vehicles like IFVs and even tanks. The gunner can also select between single- or multiple-shot modes.
“Our DU rounds can literally hit one side of an armored personnel carrier or infantry fighting vehicle (like a BRDM or BMP) and exit the other side and will have enough kinetic force to disable another one,” one armor expert told TWZ, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Well-known videos show Ukrainian Bradleys firing 25mm rounds from their Bushmaster guns at a Russian T-90M main battle tank from relatively close range:
There are three things you can watch forever. Like this Ukrainian M2 Bradley IFV obliterating a «no-analogue» russian T-90M tank.
Higher quality footage of a pair of Ukrainian M2A2 Bradley IFVs from the 47th Mechanized successfully dueling a Russian T-90M in Stepove, disabling it, with a follow up FPV munition strike causing the crew to abandon the damaged vehicle. pic.twitter.com/Vor8IuVlBZ
More than 300 examples of the M2A2 ODS version of the Bradley have been provided to Ukraine by the United States from April 2023 onwards. According to the Oryx open-source tracking group, which only records losses that it has visual confirmation of, at least 12 Ukrainian Bradleys have been captured by Russian forces, and many more have been abandoned after having been damaged or have been outright destroyed. At least some of the abandoned but still intact vehicles could have found their way into Russian hands, too, and may have been repaired.
One possible reason behind the modification could relate to the Russian operational use of captured Bradleys.
There is evidence that Russia has been making some limited use of captured Bradleys on the battlefield. At least one official video shows Russian troops from the Center Army Group operating a captured Bradley, after it was returned to running order, having been disabled by a mine. Once in Russian service, the vehicle was fitted with additional anti-drone protection ‘cope cage’ around the top of the hull.
A screencap from a video showing a captured Bradley in Russian service. Russian Ministry of Defense screencap
In that same video, a Russian soldier explains that the Bradley is prized, above all, for its heavy armor, the size of its troop compartment, and its sophisticated fire-control system.
Another soldier states that they prefer the 30mm gun on the BMP-2 to the Bushmaster, indicating that the original American gun is still fitted to the vehicle, although its use would be restricted by the limited supply of the appropriate ammunition.
Gunner ‘Molfar’, 39, a Bradle crew member of the 47th Magura Mechanized Brigade who took part in the fighting to liberate Robotyne village from Russian forces, is pictured inside his vehicle, Zaporizhzhia direction, southeastern Ukraine. Photo by Ukrinform/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Clearly, at least some frontline Russian units consider it worthwhile to operate captured Bradleys, even if they may be very few in number, with no supporting logistics chain or ammunition stockpiles.
We might also be looking at a test installation to examine whether it’s feasible to re-arm the Bradley with a Russian main gun.
It could even be intended for propaganda purposes, with the Russian gun standing in for the Bushmaster so that the vehicle can be demonstrated in parades or in collections of captured Western equipment.
Captured Bradleys (with original guns) have been displayed among war booty in Russia before, as you can read about here. Bearing in mind the popular nature of these kinds of exhibitions, this might even be the most likely explanation.
Crowds of onlookers greet a captured Bradley on a rail-bound propaganda tour of Russia. via X
There is also a precedent for changes being made to the original guns on captured armor, with one M1A1 Abrams main battle tank being displayed in Russia with the broken barrel reinstalled upside-down.
As well as serving propaganda purposes, captured Bradleys are also providing Russia with a chance to get a closer look at Western armor. Recently, Sergey Chemezov, CEO of Russia’s state-run defense conglomerate Rostec, criticized various different Western armored vehicles used by Ukraine, including the Bradley, in an interview on the company website.
Although Chemezov also highlights the Bradley’s good level of crew protection and internal layout, he expresses doubts about its tactical effectiveness.
“Some experts, including ours, praise the Bradley. In my opinion, that’s unjustified enthusiasm. We looked at it from all sides: yes, it has some positives in terms of protection and troop compartment comfort. But that doesn’t stop our weapons from destroying the vehicle along with its crew and passengers,” he said.
A Ukrainian soldier is seen near a Bradley in Avdiivka, Donbas, Ukraine, on December 4, 2023. Photo by Marek M. Berezowski/Anadolu via Getty Images Photo by Marek M. Berezowski/Anadolu via Getty Images
Chemezov further criticizes the Bradley’s off-road mobility and lack of amphibious capability (something that is a fundamental part of the design ethos of Russian IFVs).
“The Bradley has a serious weak spot: problems with mobility,” Chemezov continues. “It struggles off-road and gets stuck in black soil, becoming an easy target due to its large size. And what’s the use of better protection if the result is the same? Nearly all Bradleys delivered to Ukraine have been destroyed. We have to remember, an IFV is not a tank. It should be fast, mobile, and capable of crossing rivers unaided. Our IFVs can do that, the American ones cannot.”
Of course, Chemezov’s comments are very heavily colored by the fact that his job is to sell rival defense equipment both to the Russian state and to a diminishing number of foreign clients. There are, meanwhile, multiple documented instances of Ukrainian Bradleys surviving multiple direct hits and withstanding the effects of drone strikes or mines. The fact that Russia is even able to capture damaged vehicles and get them working again is also a testament to their durability.
On the other hand, Chemezov is correct to state that Ukrainian Bradley losses have been heavy. According to figures from Oryx, there is documented evidence showing 177 Ukrainian Bradleys destroyed, damaged and then abandoned, or captured. But as long as workable Bradleys can be salvaged by Russia, they are likely to be put to use, even if only on an ad-hoc basis.
While it’s unlikely that Russia will be able to assemble a fleet of Bradleys large enough to warrant a more extensive program to rearm them with domestically produced guns, the appearance of at least one of the IFVs with a Russian-made 30mm cannon fitted is certainly a noteworthy novelty.
