I'm setting the stage if you will, you can treat this information how you will. We will call him "Jake" he served in the USA from
1994-2004 with the first six years as a
BRADLEY 1A2 Driver/Gunner (Though he's been around other types as well from the "Schoolhouse" to the field.) mostly in Korea last four as a USA Air Traffic Controller (ATC) in Iraq.
This is a "
neutral" post
independent of any current posts or past ones, no cross checking has been done with any refs or from OOB's. I trust JAKE with
my life literally on the job when posted together and he knows I've got his back as well. I have worked with him for 13 years now.
I trust him.
This based on our conversation before and after work Sat. You get a sense of the Q&A from the following...
Personnel: BRADLEY has five seats/2 on each side opposing each other/1 for the Squad Leader I believe he said starboard side forward. Normal
3 Crew standard/5 dismounts (One Army Squad) standard.
Ten total is the Max. but, he's never seen it. Has seen six dismounts but that's mission dependent and not the norm. It gets cramped at that point and squeezing 10 total
they'll lose their reload capability for the TOW Launcher.
ALSO the dismounts are the
TOW loaders while onboard. The gunner only does it when not carrying dismounts.
TOW: When asked directly how many they carry "
I can't tell you and even if I could I wouldn't." that would be about my response to certain aspects of my Submarine Career been married just over 31 yrs. now and there are things CINCLANTHOME doesn't know and probably never will. She never asks and respects that as much as I expected "Jake" to give the answer he did, and l likewise respected it.
Are you up for a number game?
How about
8 TOW's? After some thought...
That's a good number. I believe it's somewhere closer to 10 or 12.
Reload is done in the area above the Squad Leader's seat. There's a hatch that comes up behind the turret to reload the missiles. The turret elevation is raised so the loader can pull the spent TOW cartridges out and reload the missiles. This is the most vulnerable time for the BRADLEY in combat as with any such equipped APC etc.
Chain Gun: They originally wanted to mount the same
30mm as the APACHE uses, however it was a bit impractical most of it due to limited space needed associated with that weapon. The 25mm is dual feed, the gunner has a selector switch that allows him to chose btwn HE ammo on one side of the gun and AP rounds on the other. Magazine feed from ammo boxes mounted to the gun.
Coaxial: Was a
240B until the
240C became available.
https://fnamerica.com/products/machine-guns/fn-m240b/
https://fnamerica.com/products/machine-guns/fn-m240c/
Takeaways: When asked about is there a difference on the amount of dismounts that can be carried between a tow capable BRADLEY and a non TOW BRADLEY, the answer was "
I never saw a BRADLEY that didn't carry TOW missiles and never heard of one without them."
Many years ago I believe in the APC Thread we had an issue on the number of TOW's and rounds that were carried for the 25mm, besides the refs. I could find, "Jake" was there for that as well. His answer concerning TOW's was essentially the same back then.
I like consistency.
BRADLEY M2A1: These were being phased out by time "Jake" went to BRADLEY "school" however, they had one there as a training unit. There is something
very unique about the M2A1 that
no other BRADLEY had. Gun ports for the dismounts. Imagine if you a "ball" mounted into the hull that moved as the dismount brought his weapon to bear on a target when he inserted it into the "ball" from inside the BRADLEY. They can be secured if they're in an NBC environment.
You had two to a side/one or two (He thinks two but can't remember.) in the rear (
Like the MERKAVA).
The weapon was a modified stock-less
M-16, pretty much a barrel, trigger and magazine in it's simplest terms. They were already mounted and swung out into the "ball" when needed. It would be manned while in combat.
BRADLEY M2A1 NOTE: Gun Ports (2) mid/center-line of the hull in the below picture dated to
1987.
I'm telling you what a picture(!), how about that, it even shows a TOW launcher that carries 4 TOW missiles. Oh increments of 4, and 12 all day now with 8 min. 16 I don't know-maybe!?! Oh "Jake"!?! 
I guess that picture puts the Squad Leaders seat to the
Port Side now as well. I probably misunderstood him as noted above on this issue.
So I've fulfilled my obligation to my Marine friend (Even after she called me a "
swabbie", now how nice was that!?!).
Learned a couple of new things.
Maybe cleared some things up or made them worse.
In any case it's getting VERY late and I REALLY need to hit the rack (Someone else is getting over a cold as well, which has been the only reason I'm still alive at the moment for staying up so late again!) have a good something!!!
Regards,
Pat
