M2A3

The  is an Infantry Fighting Vehicle (IFV) added to Squad in update V11. It is operated by the US Army.

General Information
The M2A3 is a new Infantry Fighting Vehicle (IFV) for the US Army. Bridging the gap between Armored Personnel Carriers and Main Battle Tanks, IFVs are used by U.S. Army for reconnaissance and infantry transportation, providing them protection from small arms fire, while also providing firepower to both suppress and eliminate most threats to friendly infantry. It is designed to be highly maneuverable and to be fast enough to keep up with heavy armor during an advance.

Designed in 1981 as a response to the Soviet (now Russian) BMP series, the M2A3 was to serve as an APC and a tank destroyer. The M2A3 was adopted by the US Army the same year it was designed and today, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon now use the vehicle as well. The M2A3 update was introduced in 2000.

Gameplay
The M2A3 IFV is used only by the US Army.


 * The M2A3 is crewed by three players, each must be equipped with a crewman kit in order to operate the vehicle, except the vehicle commander, who can use the seat regardless of the player's kit.
 * The gunner gets access to the main gun, a coaxial machine gun, ATGM launcher, and smoke grenades. The gunner can activate the gun stabilization system by pressing Z, and can coordinate with the commander using the Hunter-Killer system.
 * The driver gets access to a smoke generator that creates a smokescreen using the engine exhaust. Hold down LMB to activate the generator and the smoke will trail behind you.
 * The Commander gets access to a powerful camera with zoom functionality (with 2 zoom options) and stabilization. The Commander can coordinate with the rest of the team and act as another set of eyes in combat situations. If the Commander and the Gunner BOTH have stabilization on, then they are able to use the hunter-killer system to track instantly to what the other is looking at.
 * The M2A3 is fitted with the M242 Bushmaster 25mm chain gun, firing armor-piercing fin stabilized discarding sabot-tracer (70 rounds) and high explosive incendiary-tracer rounds (230 rounds), as well as a turret-mounted BGM-71 TOW launcher with 2 wire-guided missiles ready to fire (after the first shot, the 2nd missile must be manually reloaded). This makes it capable of engaging and killing any threat it comes across. The missiles have a range limit of 1700 meters (for balancing reasons), and it is important to remember that it takes a second for the launcher to deploy. The turret also has a coaxial M240C (800+1 rounds x 2 ammo boxes).
 * The engine is in the front and its ammunition storage shaped like a "U" under the turret. The image shows the M2A3 (left) and the M1A2 (right) with the locations of its components.
 * The armor of the M2A3 is pretty strong, among the strongest of the IFVs. It is thickest at the front of the hull and the turret, and the sides are also well protected. Again, the weak points are the rear armour and the roof. Jensen's range contains an area with 3D Models of all in-game vehicles, and the relative armor thickness of each area of each vehicle. Study this to learn the strongest and weakest areas of the vehicles in-game. A 30 mm cannon, like the BTR-82A or the BMP-2 can still pierce the whole turret and the and sides. The frontal lower plate is also penetrable if the enemy is on the same level as you or lower. The upper plate is only penetrable if the enemy vehicle is shooting from a horizontal angle (more than -20°).
 * Hitting the ammunition storage, depending on the damage, may potentially destroy the vehicle entirely through ammo cook-off (that only can happen, if the cannon is bigger than 14,5 mm). You can one shot the Bradley without a cook-off with an HAT into the rear turret ring with an 20°+ angle or an MBT AP round into the ammo rack with an angle, higher than 50°. Otherwise, the cock-off will happen every time.
 * Hitting the engine can hinder the M2A3's mobility. Damaging the engine reduces the vehicle's acceleration and top speed, which destroying it will render the vehicle immobile.

MATCHUPS WITH VEHICLES OF COMPARABLE ROLE ARE AS FOLLOWS:


 * 1) BMP-2: The BMP-2 has weaker armour, but is comparable in firepower and mobility. It also has a lower profile than the M2A3 but carries only 7 troops (Bradley can carry 8 soldiers). The 9M113 Konkurs ATGM has the same range as your TOW missiles (50 m more than the TOW), but DO NOT have the same level of penetration (500mm vs. 900mm). The BMP-2 carries more missiles but also reloads slower. The fire rate of its 30mm autocannon is also much higher than yours, but overall the M2A3 has the advantage. Engage the BMP-2 from behind or the sides if you can. Its autocannon's outdated/unrealistic 3UBR6 APBC rounds have a penetration of 60mm at 0m and cannot penetrate the M2A3 at all past 500 m (where it drops to 42 mm, same as that of BTR-80's KPVT); it also overheats quickly with sustained fire. The M2A3 also has 2000hp vs. BMP-1/BMP-2' s  1250hp against Kinetic weapons, resulting in much higher durability even if armor thickness is not a factor. For example, it takes three tank APFSDS rounds to kill the M2A3 (unless the ammo rack is hit) while it takes only two APFSDS rounds for the BMP-2; combined with the fact that the M2A3 has faster reloading (6s) missiles with high penetration(900mm), it means the M2A3 can fight tanks head on and come out on top as long as it lands/penetrates the armor with both TOW missiles. The BMP-2 has no such ability. It can still take out tanks with its ATGMs but it requires more time and better positioning to do so. The worse depression of BMP-2's weapons also makes it far less effective when fighting on uneven terrain. Experienced BMP-2 crewmen will try and flank you, and will usually hit you with a Konkurs ATGM first before peppering your weak spots with 30mm autocannon fire. One missile can kill the engine leaving you vulnerable, so be mindful of it.
 * 2) BMP-1: The BMP-1 is essentially a worse version of the BMP-2 in terms of armament. Most factions that have it lack turret stabilization (except the MEA) but it can still pose a threat. It practically has the same armor as the BMP-2, just with a single shot 2A28 Grom 73mm gun and 9M14P Malyutka-P ATGMs. The main gun can still do damage to you but takes time to reload, and the ATGMs fly slower and are harder to control than that of the BMP-2. The same tactics apply. If fired accurately, however, the 2A28(with unrealistic velocity; as in-game PG-9V only has its muzzle velocity but not the acceleration up to 700m/s in real life) can penetrate the M2A3 at any distance, making it more of a threat to front of Bradley between 400-600m(beyond that, 2A28 is not reliable in hit probability), just need to consciously switch to HEAT immediately after ATGM launched. It is also easy to counter at close range, because its weapons are useless when up close
 * 3) FV510: The FV510 is substantially weaker than the M2A3, possessing no ATGMs, a slower firing cannon, and no hunter-killer system or turret stabilization. It can carry more people than you, and the armour isn't that much worse off, but ultimately your firepower is far superior and you can engage the FV510 at your leisure. -except the UA variant with the side armor extensions -> sides and a piece of the front plate are resistant to most autocannons.
 * 4) BTR-82A: (TBA)
 * 5) LAV 6.0: (TBA)

Trivia

 * The M2A3 was released in Alpha 11