Bradley Combat Systems fulfill five critical mission roles – infantry fighting vehicle, cavalry fighting vehicle, fire support vehicle, battle command vehicle and engineer squad vehicle. Bradleys are operated with the US Army’s Heavy Brigade Combat Teams (HBCTs).
The Bradley A3 incorporates many enhancements improving the vehicle’s lethality and survivability, including a full fire control solution featuring a hunter / killer configuration with second generation sights. Additionally, the A3 features integrated information technologies with enhanced command and control features, such as color maps and displays, high-density computer memory, increased micro-processing speed and networked communications. These command and control functions are supported by a more accurate navigation and position locating system. All of these features are implemented with a digital architecture and software, which allows modularity and flexibility to support all of the Bradley mission roles in the HBCTs.
Following the extensive use of Bradley vehicles in Iraq, Bradley vehicles are returned to the USA for ‘remanufacturing’ process, known as “reset’ program. This process is undertaken by a Public Private Partnership between BAE Systems, and Red River Army Depot (RRAD), includes disassembly and subsystem rebuild, performed at RRAD, with final disassembly and structural modifications to be completed by BAE Systems in Fayette County, Pennsylvania. Final assembly, integration and test will be conducted at the company’s facility in York, Pennsylvania.
BAE Systems has received two US Army contracts supporting the reset of Bradley armored fighting vehicles totaling $412 million. The awards announced last week combined with the $1.16 billion contract for the remanufacture and upgrade of 610 Bradley awarded in November brings the total value of the Bradley upgrading and reset contracts work to $3.5 billion for Fiscal Years 2005 – 2007, representing 620 A3 vehicles out of a US Army requirement for more than 2,000 total Bradley A3s upgrading planned for the fleet. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in December 2007 and continue through July 2008. Work on the vehicles would begin in July 2008 and continue through May 2009.
The first contract, worth $177.7 million, and funded under the Fiscal Year 2007 defense budget, calls for the reset of 262 Bradley Combat Systems returning from Iraq. The second award, funded at $234.2 million through the Fiscal Year 2007 budget secures long-lead materials for an anticipated award to reset 303 Bradley A3 vehicles and 173 Bradley Operation Desert Storm vehicles under Fiscal Year 2008 funding.
