Veteran 47th Mech Brigade Gets 100s More Bradleys, Ukraine's Favorite Weapon

Of all the many weapons Ukraine has received, the US M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicle is the clear favorite for its firepower, mobility and its ability to protect troops.

As the US phases out the armored vehicle, Ukraine is getting hundreds more - and putting them to good use. JL

David Axe reports in Forbes:

Ukraine's storied 47th Mechanized brigade replaced dozens of destroyed and captured Bradleys with more Bradleys, underscoring the growing importance of the vehicle in Ukrainian service. Of all the various combat vehicles the Ukrainians have received from their allies in the 30 months since Russia widened its war on Ukraine, the M-2—with its balance of mobility, protection and firepower—might be their favorite. “Works like a clock.” 

When Ukrainian forces launched their much-heralded—and later much-maligned—southern counteroffensive in June 2023, the army’s 47th Mechanized Brigade was out in front, struggling through dense Russian minefields in its ex-Finnish Leopard 2R breaching vehicles, ex-European Leopard 2A6 tanks and ex-American M-2 infantry fighting vehicles.

 

It was a costly counteroffensive for the elite, NATO-trained 47th Mechanized Brigade. In months of difficult attacks, it lost almost all of its Leopard 2Rs, several of its Leopard 2A6s and dozens of its M-2s—not to mention potentially hundreds of its 2,000 troopers.

But all that hard fighting didn’t earn the brigade a break—at least, not for another year. In early September, the 47th Mechanized Brigade finally left the front line in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk Oblast and redeployed to the relative safety of Pavlohrad, 60 miles west of Pokrovsk, the current locus of the Russian offensive in Donetsk.

There, the 47th Mechanized Brigade is apparently inducting fresh troops, repairing battle-damaged equipment and—perhaps most critically—preparing to take delivery of fresh M-2s from the United States. One of the Ukrainian army’s best brigades is getting more of its best vehicles.

It’s surely no coincidence that around the same time the 47th Mechanized Brigade finally departed the Pokrovsk front, the U.S. government announced a $250-million package of military aid for Ukraine that includes an unspecified number of the tracked, 33-ton M-2s, which carry up to 10 people—three crew and seven infantry—and pack powerful 25-millimeter autocannons plus TOW anti-tank missiles and reactive armor blocks to boost their protection.

It’s unclear how many of the 1990s-vintage Bradleys are in the latest American aid package. Previous packages included, in total, around 300 of the multi-million-dollar IFVs. It wouldn’t be surprising if the recent aid includes dozens of M-2s. The Americans can certainly spare them: thousands of surplus U.S. Army Bradleys are in storage in the U.S.

The 47th Mechanized Brigade was—and still is—badly in need of fresh vehicles. After losing many of its Leopard 2A6 tanks and most of its Leopard 2R breaching vehicles last year, the brigade traded away the surviving tanks to a different brigade and inducted, as replacements, 31 M-1 Abrams tanks and six or so Assault Breachers from the United States.

 

But the brigade replaced dozens of destroyed and captured Bradleys with more Bradleys, underscoring the growing importance of the vehicle in Ukrainian service. Of all the various combat vehicles the Ukrainians have received from their allies in the 30 months since Russia widened its war on Ukraine, the M-2—with its balance of mobility, protection and firepower—might be their favorite. “Works like a clock,” one experienced Bradley commander said in a documentary produced by United24.

For the 47th Mechanized Brigade, the Bradley is a blessing and a curse. The brigade is the only Ukrainian unit we know for sure operates M-2s. At full strength, the 47th Mechanized Brigade should have around 100 Bradleys in three battalions.

It’s because it has M-2s that the general staff in Kyiv keeps sending the 47th Mechanized Brigade into action. When a powerful Russian force launched an offensive along the Avdiivka-Pokrovsk axis in October, the generals ordered the 47th Mechanized Brigade to hurry from southern Ukraine to eastern Ukraine—and join the defense.

Four months later, Avdiivka fell as its ammunition-starved garrison retreated, partly under the cover of the M-2s’ autocannons. The eastern front line briefly stabilized and, in April, the 47th Mechanized Brigade was finally preparing to depart the front line for its first unit-wide rest in nine months.

 

But then the Russians broke through Ukrainian defenses around the village of Ocheretyne, launching a steady westward march that would ultimately bring them to within six miles of Pokrovsk. The 47th Mechanized Brigade turned around and rejoined the fight around Ocheretyne—and kept fighting as the Russians advanced.

Five months later, the 47th Mechanized Brigade had lost most of its Assault Breachers, a third of its Abrams and another 20 or so of its Bradleys. Even with the hard work of a front-line repair battalion, turning wrenches to speed battered M-2s back into battle, the 47th Mechanized Brigade is apparently running low on fully operational Bradleys.

That should change as the brigade settles into its long-delayed break and extra M-2s arrive by ship, train and truck. How long the 47th Mechanized Brigade will get to rest and reset is hard to predict. The Russians are still advancing toward Pokrovsk and also making small gains north and south of the city.

When the Russians break through Ukrainian lines, commanders in Kyiv tend to ask where the 47th Mechanized Brigade is. Another emergency could compel the brigade to pile into its Bradleys and roll east toward the front.