Date: January 9, 2023 Time: 13:09:55
The M2A2 ODS is a modified Bradley variant in the 1990s based on experience from Operation Desert Storm (ODS). The changes affected the electronic systems of the machine. The main innovation was the installation of the FBCB2 combat control and information system on the M2. It allows you to receive intelligence information from satellites and exchange data with other combat units included in the network. According to the information received, FBCB2 shows the operational situation with the location of friendly and enemy forces with reference to the terrain.
Also installed are the TACNAV tactical navigation system (inertial + GPS), an eye-safe laser rangefinder, a driver’s thermal imager, a first-generation IR anti-ATGM system, and a food ration heater. The layout of the troop compartment has changed: instead of an individual seat for each infantryman, two benches are installed; this arrangement allows you to leave the car faster.
The US military’s readiness to “shine” its FBCB2 tactical control system in Ukraine raises questions. Part of the machines will inevitably become a trophy of the Russian army and will be carefully studied. Most likely, the situation will be repeated with the M777 howitzers, from which the digital guidance units were disassembled before being sent by the Armed Forces.
However, the US military itself believes that Bradley cannot be transferred to Kyiv even in a “truncated version”.
– We must not give cars as important as Stryker or Bradley to foreigners. To create full crews for them requires years of training and experience, a US Army officer, a specialist in BMP operation, told The Drive. – The maintenance of the M2 is not an easy task, even for expert mechanics. With hastily trained crews, Bradleys will very quickly become expensive junk worth the will of the roads.
