Tanks at the school gates? San Diego school police acquires its own MRAP

[happyslug]

20. I saw it when it first came out....

My favorite scene is when an Army Officer pulled in the Air Force Officer who was reviewing the M2 Bradley fighting Vehicle and told him to be careful "Given a choice between us, people who threaten a weapons program, and a Soviet Spy, they go after US every time".

The M2 Bradley has been a very successful program since it was introduced in the 1980s (And the Air Force Officers efforts made it a much better vehicle then it had been before his efforts) but its still suffers from some major shortcomings, mostly do to its Aluminum Armor.

Aluminium "burns" (Technically it is called Rapid Oxidation) at a much lower temperature then Steel (but much higher then magnesium). Thus if you make a vehicle from Aluminium it will "burn" if hit by a HEAT (High Explosive Anti Tank Round). You have to design around that problem for Aluminum is four times stronger then steel of the same mass (But Alumunium takes up three times the volume of Steel, thus the same MASS of Steel and Aluminium means looking at an Aluminum block three times the size of the Steel Block of the same MASS).

Aluminum "Melts" at 1220.58 Fahrenheit, which is low for metal

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium#Oxidation_state_.2B3

Iron "Melts" at 2800 Degree Fahrenheit, over twice the temperture of Aluminum.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron

Magnesium melts at ​1202 Fahrenheit, through some alloy burn as low as 660 Fahrenheit:
http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/melting-temperature-metals-d_860.html

Even today there is some question as to the ability of the Bradley to take a HEAT round. The last time I checked the changes made during the fight to get it into production gave the crew more time to vacant if they have to but that is about all.

The movie did have an error in it, it states that Israel was being given an improved version of the M2 Bradley. In the real world Israel used and is still using the older, all aluminium M113 Vietnam Era Armored Personal Carrier. Israel is looking for a replacement do to the affects of HEAT rounds on the Aluminum armor of the M113, but the M2 Bradley is NOT among the options Israel is looking at.

Israeli has instead opted for a conversion of old T-54 tanks to Infantry Carriers and building new infantry vehicles based on its Merkava Tank. The T-54 uses steel armor, the Merkava uses composite and reactive armor.

For more on the T-54 conversion:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IDF_Achzarit

For more on the Merkava Infantry Fighting Vehicle:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Namer

Just a Comment that the M2 Bradley was only sold to Saudi Arabia, unlike the M113 which was and still use used world wide. The users of the M113 know its weaknesses and try to avoid placing it anyplace where a HEAT round can be used against it (The most common way is to use Steel APCs or Tanks to lead M113s into combat, thus the Steel APC gets any HEAT rounds fired).