The M113 is an American armored personnel carrier. The first designs were created in 1956, and serial production at FMC started in 1960. It lasted until 1987 and resulted in the production of 73,000 copies of this vehicle for the US Army's own needs as well as for export. The M113 entered service in as many as 45 countries, including Israel, Spain, Italy, Greece and Germany. The M113 is the most popular transport in the world and forms the basis for the world's largest family of armored vehicles. The M113 hull is constructed of steel and aluminum, with welded armor. This lowers the weight, but protects the crew only against small caliber ammunition. The Israeli army uses Rafael TOGA armor to correct this shortcoming. The driving position is located at the front left and the engine at the front right of the vehicle. Landing soldiers (up to 7 people) sit on benches along the hull and start the fight via the ramp located at the back of the transporter, which is hydraulically lowered. The basic M113 is able to overcome water obstacles, driven by tracks. The M113 was involved in a very large number of conflicts among others. in the Vietnam War, in the Yom Kippur War, in Operation Desert Storm, and in the 2003 Iraq War. In the US Army, it is systematically replaced by the M2 Bradley car. Among the huge family based on the M113 chassis, one can mention the American M901, which is armed with a TOW launcher, or the Israeli M113 Fitter with a special crane mounted, which is the basic vehicle of the Israeli repair and repair services in armored battalions. Fitter is also used by Australia and Belgium. Technical data (version M113A3): length: 4.86m, width: 2.69m, height: 2.54m, weight 12.1t, engine power: 266KM, speed (on the road): 66km / h, armament: 1 machine gun 12.7mm caliber.
The M2 / M3 Bradley is a modern American infantry fighting vehicle (IFV). The first prototypes of the vehicle were made in 1976, and serial production started in 1980 continues to this day. It is estimated that around 6,800 vehicles of this type had been built by the beginning of 2018. Bradley is powered by an engine Cummins VTA-903T or VTA-903 o 500 hp and 600 hp respectively. It is armed with a single 25mm M242 automatic cannon, 1 7.62mm M240 machine gun and 1 TOW dual-guided missile launcher.
The M2 / M3 Bradley was originally developed as a new infantry fighting vehicle for the US Army to replace the M113 vehicles. During its design, particular emphasis was placed on the possibility of cooperation on the battlefield with M1 Abrams tanks, better armament than in the M113, the greatest possible mobility and high reliability. Interestingly, the armor of the new IFV was not particularly important, which led to the fact that the first production batches had a large part of the hull made of aluminum. At the end of the 70s, still at the testing stage, the US Army command decided to use the M2 to develop the M3 combat vehicle, which is very difficult to distinguish from its "relative" externally. Several versions of the M2 cars were created in the course of serial production. The first major modernization turned out to be the M2A1 version, which had a two-tube TOW launcher (instead of a single one). Later, a version of the M2A2 was created, which had reinforced armor, with the possibility of using reactive armor, and a new 600hp engine. Finally, the last - at least for the moment - was the M2A3 version, which was even more armored and received much more modern electronics. M2 / M3 vehicles are equipped only in Saudi Arabia and the United States. They also took part in several conflicts, most notably in Operation Desert Storm from 1990-1991.