The Bradley has proven to be useful for Ukraine as a maneuverable, versatile, and well-armed combat vehicle suited for combat operations in this war.
The US has promised Ukraine a new military aid package including more Bradley infantry fighting vehicles.
The US-made armored vehicles, which offer maneuverability, versatility, and sufficient firepower, have proven valuable to Ukraine efforts on the battlefield — more so than the main battle tanks and other heavy armor it's received.
The US Department of Defense announced the aid package, estimated at $250 million, on Friday, noting that it "will provide Ukraine additional capabilities to meet its most urgent needs, including: air defense missiles; munitions for rocket systems and artillery; armored vehicles; and anti-tank weapons."
Armchair general opinion here, but basically: It pretty much doesn't matter how much armour you pile onto something- it adds weight, fuel costs, and reduces speed, and all the armour in the world will still only last a limited amount of time against powerful explosives specifically designed to destroy armour. The most basic thing about armoured vehicles is doing something in the time that that armour buys you. And to do stuff, you need speed, firepower, and a good optics system.
The Bradley has those three things in spades. Even if it's not the most heavily armoured vehicle ever seen, it's really fucking cost effective, WAY easier to maintain with Ukraine's more limited resources than the US army, and versatile as hell. It uses the time that it has before the armour inevitably fails exceedingly well.
What a lot of people against help to Ukraine don't realize is that the whole country is basically the cheapest Q&A testing facility the US has ever gotten access to. By giving away and monitoring produced vehicles, they strengthen US production while rapidly iterating better equipment. All while frustrating Putin.
Armor is good against light infantry, right up until they get anti-tank weapons, after which it's a massive coffin/integrated crematorium.
We switched to Strikers and those other stupid things in Iraq for the same reasons, there were rpg-7s everywhere, you just couldn't stop them, more armor slowed you down and made you a worse target in bad terrain.
The Bradley is death against everything its size, and killed a bunch of T-72s because TOWs don't lie. Mainly, if you're worried about RPGs, you can have guys get OUT of the Bradley and chase them with guns.
Bradleys are loads better in open field combat than they are in built up urban areas though. They weren’t designed with that threat model in mind, and it shows. They are going absolutely gangbusters in field combat in Ukraine, for the most part.
TLDR, the guys opposing the Bradley were a completely loony bunch who thought the strategies and technology of yesteryear is the way to go and they were so in love with the M113 that they thought it would make a good aircraft.
Yeah, that's what I think of whenever I read about the Bradley. Great movie, and even better book. That said, they were able to finally deliver a pretty solid vehicle in the aftermath of the initial development debacle. Still not at all what was originally intended, but less of a moving coffin that was depicted in the book/movie.