Dynamic armor Bradley Reactive Armor Tiles: effective against drones, useless against anti-tank systems

Bradley Reactive Armor Tiles (BRAT) is an advanced reactive armor system designed to improve the survivability of armored vehicles on the battlefield. The BRAT system uses the principle of dynamic protection, which includes the use of explosive plates designed to reflect or attenuate the energy of penetrating ammunition.

Dynamic protection is a type of additional protection for armored personnel carriers and tanks, which includes the use of explosive plates. These plates are mounted on the outside of armored vehicles and are capable of reacting to the impact of a penetrating projectile, causing an explosion that reflects or dissipates the energy of the projectile, thereby protecting the main armor.

The BRAT is used as additional armor for the M2/M3 Bradley vehicle, which is the main armored combat vehicle of the United States. These vehicles are used for a variety of military missions, including bringing infantry to the front lines of combat operations, supporting infantry in combat, and performing reconnaissance missions.

The BRAT system was designed to deal with a variety of threats on the battlefield, including anti-tank grenades, rocket-propelled rounds, and cannon-piercing armor-piercing rounds. It is designed to reduce the impact of these threats on armored vehicles, thereby increasing the survivability of the crew and maintaining the combat readiness of the equipment.

Use of BRAT kits in military conflicts

Due to its design and functionality, the BRAT kit helps to increase the survivability of armored vehicles and their crews in combat conditions. Armored vehicles are commonly exposed to threats from anti-tank grenades, armor-piercing rounds, and other types of penetrating munitions. BRAT provides the means to control these threats by creating "active" defenses capable of instantly responding to strikes.

In the context of real military conflicts, especially in urban combat, the effectiveness of BRAT has been proven. For example, during operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, where American armored vehicles were regularly attacked with anti-tank grenades and improvised explosive devices, dynamic protection helped to reduce the level of damage to armored vehicles and save the lives of crews.

However, like any technology, BRAT is not a panacea. It effectively controls certain threats, but there are still some limitations. One of them is that dynamic protection cannot completely protect armored vehicles from damage in the event of a powerful explosion or direct hit. Also, dynamic protection can pose a danger to infantry located next to armored vehicles due to the debris generated during the explosion of the plates.

"Lancet" against dynamic protection "Bradley Reactive Armor Tiles"

The Lancet's ability to overcome the BRAT ERA depends on many factors. First of all, the key element is the ability of the UAV to hit armored vehicles in a way that minimizes the effectiveness of the BRAT. This can be achieved by aiming at vulnerable areas where dynamic protection does not have the desired effect, for example, the upper part of the hull or tank turret.

It is also important to consider that the Lancet, like many other unmanned strike vehicles, uses smaller caliber ammunition than those commonly used against tanks. Therefore, even if BRAT can reduce the effectiveness of the strike, the damage may still be significant enough to damage or disable armored vehicles.

ATGM "Kornet" against dynamic protection Bradley Reactive Armor Tiles

The analysis of the capabilities of the anti-tank missile system (ATGM) "Kornet" in the context of overcoming the dynamic defense of Bradley Reactive Armor Tiles (BRAT) is a clear example of evaluating the complex interactions of modern military technologies.

The Kornet is a Russian ATGM designed to engage armored targets at a distance of up to 5 meters. It is capable of penetrating up to 500-1 mm of armor behind ERA thanks to a two-stage tandem projectile.

Kornet's ability to overcome BRAT may be due to several factors. First of all, "Kornet" uses a tandem projectile, which consists of two charges - preliminary and main. The pre-charge is designed to activate and destroy ERA, allowing the main charge to penetrate the main armor.

The second key factor is the high accuracy of the Kornet. The laser beam guidance system provides high hit accuracy, which allows you to hit vulnerable areas of armored vehicles where BRAT can be less effective.

Thus, against the modern Russian ATGM "Kornet", BRAT armor is completely ineffective.

Use of dynamic armor BRAT in Ukraine

After deliveries to Ukraine of the American BMP M2 Bradley, these combat vehicles were equipped in July 2023 with Bradley Reactive Armor Tiles dynamic armor sets. The first cases of the use of BRAT armor were recorded in the Zaporozhye region, however, already during the very first use of this armor failed to prove itself – several military vehicles were hit by ATGMs, while one was abandoned by the Ukrainian military.

This armor was able to prove itself most effectively when repelling attacks from FPV drones. Evidence indicates that small drones are not capable of causing damage to this armor, however. in general, the BRAT dynamic armor kits failed to prove themselves.