M242 (25 mm)

The 25 mm M242 on the M3 Bradley gun mantlet.

Description

The 25 mm M242 Bushmaster is a chain cannon used on the Bradley series.

Vehicles equipped with this weapon

• ADATS
• Desert Warrior
• M3 Bradley
• M3A3 Bradley

General info

Tell us about the tactical and technical characteristics of the cannon or machine gun.

Available ammunition

• Default: APDS · HEI-T*
• M792: HEI-T* · HEI-T* · HEI-T* · APDS
• M791: APDS · APDS · APDS · HEI-T*
• M919: APFSDS

Note: The M919 belt is only available to the M3A3 Bradley.

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
	10 m	100 m	500 m	1,000 m	1,500 m	2,000 m
HEI-T*	7	6	4	3	3	3
APDS	81	80	74	67	61	56
APFSDS	101	100	95	88	81	74

Shell details
Ammunition	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile mass (kg)	Fuse delay (m)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (g)	Ricochet
						0%	50%	100%
HEI-T*	1,100	0.19	0.1	0.1	54.4	79°	80°	81°
APDS	1,345	0.13	-	-	-	75°	78°	80°
APFSDS	1,385	0.1	-	-	-	78°	80°	81°

Comparison with analogues

• MK 30-2/ABM (30 mm): A 30 mm German autocannon with a similar rate of fire
• 2A42 (30 mm): A Russian autocannon with similar penetration and damage but a higher rate of fire than the M242
• 2A72 (30 mm): A Russian autocannon with similar penetration, damage and rate of fire
• Oerlikon KBA B02 (25 mm): A 25 mm autocannon of the same calibre with a higher rate of fire

Usage in battles

The M242 Bushmaster can handle and defeat most of the opponents that it faces within its BR, though certain MBTs and heavy tanks will be difficult to defeat as the autocannon does not have enough penetration to effectively kill these heavy tanks. Usually flanking manoeuvres are required as most MBTs at this tier lack in side armour, where the M242 can easily punch through the armour, though certain MBTs such as the Leopard 1 can be penetrated from the front. Be aware of Soviet/Russian main battle tanks as they have up to 80 mm of side armour, where the M242 cannot penetrate the side unless you have M919 APFSDS, which is only available on the M3A3 Bradley. The M242 can also defeat air targets as well, although due to the low fire rate of 200 RPM, defeating jets are going to be difficult from their high speed. The XM1069 does have a modified M242, where it can fire at 500 RPM and having a slightly easier time killing jets. Defeating helicopters are easier though as they aren't that fast, and easy to kill if they're going on the attack run in the battlefield.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Access to APFSDS (only for the M3A3)
• High rate of fire (XM1069 only)
• High ammunition count

Cons:

• Slow rate of fire
• Tends to overheat easily

History

Examine the history of the creation and combat usage of the weapon in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too long, take it to a separate article, taking a link to the article about the weapon and adding a block "/History" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Weapon-name)/History) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <ref></ref>, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <references />.

Media

Images

• 

  The M242 on the XM1069.

See also

Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:

• reference to the article about the variant of the cannon/machine gun;
• references to approximate analogues by other nations and research trees.

External links

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

• topic on the official game forum;
• other literature.

USA tank cannons
20 mm	M139
25 mm	LW25 · M242
37 mm	M3 · M5 · M6
57 mm	M1
75 mm	M2 · M2 Howitzer · M3 · M6 · M1897A4 · XM274
76 mm	M1 · M7 · M32 · T185E1
90 mm	M3 · M3A1 · M36 · M41 · M54 · T15E1 · T15E2 · T54 · T208E9
105 mm	M4 · M68 · M68A1 · M68A1E8 · T5E1 · T5E2 · T140E2 · T140E3 · XM35
106 mm	M40A1C
120 mm	M58 · M256 · T53
152 mm	M81 · M162 · XM150E5
155 mm	M185 · T7
165 mm	M135
	Foreign:
20 mm	Rh202 (Germany)
57 mm	6pdr OQF Mk.III (Britain) · ZIS-2 (USSR)
105 mm	Sharir (Israel)
120 mm	IMI MG251 (Israel)

Britain tank cannons
30 mm	L21A1
40 mm	QF 2-pounder
47 mm	Ordnance QF 3-pounder
57 mm	6pdr OQF Mk.III · 6pdr OQF Mk.V
75 mm	OQF Mk.V
76 mm	OQF 3-inch Howitzer Mk I · OQF 3in 20cwt · QF 17-pounder
77 mm	OQF Mk.II
84 mm	20pdr OQF Mk.I
94 mm	28pdr OQF · 32pdr OQF · OQF Mk.II
95 mm	Howitzer, Tank No.1, Mk.I
105 mm	LRF · Royal Ordnance L7A1
120 mm	Ordnance QF Tk. L1A2 · Ordnance BL Tk. L11 · L11A5 · L30A1
165 mm	ORD BL 6.5in L9A1
183 mm	QF L4A1
	Foreign:
25 mm	M242 (USA)
37 mm	M5 (USA) · M6 (USA)
75 mm	M2 (USA) · M3 (USA)
84 mm	kan Strv 81 (Sweden)
105 mm	Sharir (Israel)
120 mm	Rh120 L/55 A1 (Germany)
125 mm	2A46M-5 (Russia)
155 mm	M185 (USA)
	South Africa
20 mm	GI-2
76 mm	GT-4
90 mm	GT-2
105 mm	GT-3 · GT-7 · GT-8
155 mm	G6 L/45