U.S. Army Expands Enhanced Bradley Fighting Vehicle Fleet Despite Major Combat Losses in Ukraine

The United States Army has finalised a $390 million contract to upgrade additional Bradley infantry fighting vehicles modernised to the M2A4 standard, signalling continued investment in the late Cold War era vehicles despite recent criticisms of their combat performances. The upgraded vehicles will replace older Bradley variants, providing ground units with improved lethality, protection, and fire controls. The Ground Manoeuvre product line director for BAE Systems Bill Sheehy stated regarding the order that “it’s critical that we continue upgrading Bradleys to the modern A4 configuration so that warfighters have the equipment they need to dominate,” adding that the contract “ensures our U.S. manufacturing lines stay hot and ready for continued production.” Approximately 300 M2A4 Bradleys are currently in service, out of a total fleet of around 4,500 Bradleys the remainder of which are older variants. The vehicle ended production in 1995.

The Bradley began high intensity combat testing in the Ukrainian theatre in early 2023, after significant numbers were donated to equip elite Ukrainain Army units. Of approximately 200 Bradley Fighting Vehicles delivered to Ukraine early that year, 80 were within five months estimated to have been lost in combat. The first images of the vehicles taking heavy losses, alongside German supplied Leopard 2A6 tanks, emerged in June, after which Washington pledged to replenish losses bysupplying new batches. Footage released by Russian sources on July 22 showed particularly heavy losses and a ‘graveyard’ of the vehicles near the Rabotino settlement in the Zaporozhye Region. The vehicle’s very limited armour protection for high intensity combat has been highlighted as a major issue, and has been compounded by growing shortages of ammunition affecting units operating them. Interviews with personnel from the mechanised 47th Brigade were among the sources highlighting the latter issue.

In January 2024 CNN reported that Ukrainian personnel were expressing growing dissatisfaction with the Bradley’s performance against Russian forces. The news outlet described the vehicles as having served as the “tip of the spear during last year’s ill-fated Ukrainian counteroffensive,” highlighting that with “dozens” having been “damaged and destroyed in battle,” this left the American vehicles “in limited supply along the front.” Ukrainian crews were reportedly particularly critical of the Bradley’s limited ability to weather winter conditions, as well as “the state of some of the older vehicles shipped by the U.S.”

The major losses the Bradley has suffered have been far from isolated, with M1A1 Abrams tanks donated by the United States having also taken extreme losses. By early June 2025 the Ukrainian Army was assessed to have lost 87 percent of the tanks, with 27 of the 31 delivered having been destroyed or captured. The U.S. Army has since terminated plans develop a new variant of the M1A2 design, and instead sought to develop its most revolutionary new tank in close to half a century under the M1E3 program. No similar programs for a revolutionary fighting vehicle to succeed the Bradley are known to exist, however.