The United States hosted its annual armored vehicle crew competition, known as the Sullivan Cup, and this year's event produced a remarkable result in the best IFV crew category: experienced American crews who have operated the Bradley for years were beaten by what amounted to first-timers from Ireland, who had only just learned the vehicle.
The competition featured eight tank crews of four personnel each, as well as Bradley infantry fighting vehicle crews of three each. The majority were drawn from the U.S. Army and National Guard, though tank crews from the United Kingdom and Poland also participated, as did an IFV crew from Ireland.
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Winners were determined on Friday, May 8, following the final stage of the competition — the Final Dash in both the best tank crew and best IFV crew categories. Details of the competition were reported by Stars and Stripes.
The title of best M2 Bradley IFV crew went to the crew of the 1st Armoured Cavalry Squadron of the Irish Army a country that does not operate the Bradley at all.
What is more, the Irish soldiers first trained on the vehicle immediately before the competition in a three-week intensive course, after which they outperformed six American crews with considerable Bradley experience. A post on the Irish Defence Forces' X account refers to just two weeks of Bradley training.
The competition itself was genuinely close Ireland effectively clawed the victory away from a crew of the U.S. 155th Armored Brigade Combat Team, scoring 699 points out of a maximum 1,000 against the Americans’ 694, who finished second.
The competition's purpose is to test how crews perform under near-combat conditions, covering a broad range of tasks from physical fitness assessments to day and night gunnery, and field maintenance. One of the most demanding tasks was track replacement on tanks and IFVs a time-consuming job that crews carried out exhausted after completing gunnery and other events.
The Irish crew's victory is particularly meaningful in the context of how quickly Western equipment can be mastered under compressed timelines and underscores the experience Ukrainian forces have accumulated since 2022, when Ukraine's defenders have been repeatedly required to learn new weapons systems under accelerated programs in order to return to the front as quickly as possible and bring Western defense aid to bear in combat.
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