Completely OT: Range of the Bradley?

[Triggerhappy]

Yesterday there was an accident on a US military base here in Germany. A Bradley fired a few rounds during an exercise. Two of these rounds hit the roof of a school building, 5 kilometers away. Luckily, no one was injured. My question: Can the Bradley shoot this far? I know that this is completely off topic and it will probably be locked up pretty soon but I'm sure one of you grogs can give me an answer.

For those who speak German: http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/0,1518,132809,00.html

[Barticus]

I guess the important thing to remember here is that ranges listed in gun specifications (of all calibres) is their EFFECTIVE range. I think the effective range given for the FN-FAL is something like 1500 metres. This doesn't mean that the bullet can't travel farther and still seriously hurt someone, it just means that this is the furthest range you could conduct aimed fire. I would suspect that those few 25mm cannon rounds from the Bradley were at the end of their ballistic arc.

Still, it shows a bit of carelessness on the part of the Bradley gunner, I imagine he will face some serious disciplinary actions.

Bart

[Ex Bellator]

Errrrrm, okay here goes stupid reply number 1 -

If the round hit a building 5km away then the Bradley can shoot that far unless (possibly) someone picked it up, ran over to the building and threw it on the roof

Hi everyone!

[Triggerhappy]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Rex_Bellator:

Errrrrm, okay here goes stupid reply number 1 -

If the round hit a building 5km away then the Bradley can shoot that far unless (possibly) someone picked it up, ran over to the building and threw it on the roof

Hi everyone!<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Hehe, okay. The details on the incident are very scarce. So it might be that the Bradley was somewhere nearer to the building, the article only states that the US base is 5 km away. If the Bradley's shots couldn't travel this far this would mean that it *had to* be somewhere nearer, right?

[Lutz]

From FM 7-7J MECHANIZED INFANTRY PLATOON AND SQUAD, Appendix B: (Found at the Dennis J. Reimer Training and Doctrine Digital Library )

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>(BRADLEY)1) M242 25-mm gun. The 25-mm gun has three rates of fire--single shot, low rate, and high rate. It accurately delivers both

armor-piercing and high-explosive rounds. The 25-mm gun using APDS-T rounds can destroy lightly armored vehicles (BMP, BTR,

BRDM). Using HEI-T rounds, it can destroy unarmored vehicles (trucks, jeeps) and suppress enemy troops in the open, in built-up areas,

or in dug-in positions.

(a) The 25-mm APDS-T round can penetrate lightly armored vehicles. Flank shots increase the probability of penetration. Maximum

effective range/tracer burnout is about 1,700 meters, but effective fire using sabot rounds can be achieved by using burst-on-target

techniques if impact of the round can be observed.

( The 25-mm APFSDS-T is a fixed-type, percussion primed round. It consists of a sabot encapsulated projectile crimped to a

steel cartridge case. Basic operation of this kinetic energy round is the same as APDS-T with an increase in velocity to about 1,420

meters per second. This round has increased penetration capabilities as well as tracer burn time, which allows engagement of targets

at longer ranges and with greater potential to defeat a BMP-2.

© The HEI-T is excellent for suppressing antitank guided missile crews and crew-served weapons out to 3,000 meters. Tracer

burnout is 2,000 meters, but effective fire can be placed on targets at further ranges if impact of the round can be observed. HEI-T

has a 5-meter bursting radius that enables this ammunition to be used in both point and area target engagements.

(d) The BFV can carry onboard 900 rounds of 25-mm ammunition; only 300 can be loaded in the 25-mm ammunition cans.

Uploading the weapons system for the 25-mm takes about 15 minutes. All leaders and gunners must be aware of the operational

impact of using all of the ammunition in the ammunition cans. As ammunition is fired, 15-round belts can be linked and loaded in the

two ammunition cans in just minutes. If all ammunition is used, reloading takes 12 minutes because the new ammunition must be fed

directly into the gun. This is difficult to do while the vehicle is moving.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

So depending on the type of ammunition the maximum effective range is about 3000 m. The maximum range however will be considerably higher. So 5 km seems to be well inside the danger zone.

Someone with advanced physics/aerodynamics knowledge could probably compute the maximum range of the APFSDS-T round from the v0 given. :cool:

Oh, and I think this belongs in the General forum.

[Triggerhappy]

Thx!

Uhm, yes, you're right. General Forum next time. Sorry!

[Olle Petersson]

We had an accident here in Sweden a few years ago where a MG exercise of firing from the hip at a close by target resulted in the death of a civilian passing by in a car just over 3km down the range.

The car had it's side window down, and the bullet hit the thin part of the scull in front of the ear. The man died instantly...

I think "effective range" of hip fired MG bursts are much shorter than 3km.

Cheers

Olle

[Stoffel]

If you want a clear answer ask for it on the Tacops forum.

There are many specialist regarding modern weapons there.

I am sure someone will give you an answer.

Only thing I can tell you that when we went shooting with our battallion (25 mm oerlikon canon) we could see the bullits hit a large sandwall far in the rear of the shooting range.

It was forbidden though to aim high.

Anyone who did that could face high penalties.

As regarding the mg fire accident,I have been a mg gunner myself and it is very difficult to fire with a mg from the hip.

Infact it has been forbidden here in the Netherlands to do such exercises.

Only small arms is permitted.

[Battlefront.com]

Moved to General Forum.

Deputy Moderator