US “concerned” over reports of lost Bradley IFV 28 April 2016 Last updated at 23:47 BST
US officials have expressed concern at reports carried in Russian media on the capture of an advanced Infantry Fighting Vehicle near Ezrikistan’s South-eastern border. A Pentagon spokesman said the US was worried especially as the advanced fighting vehicle was reported to be "in the hands of a paramilitary force".
This is in reference to independent Russian media reports on Monday stating that a Bradley vehicle was recovered from a hillside in the Kalu Khan Province of Ezrikistan, the operating area of the 101st Airbourne Division (Air Assault). It states the vehicle had suffered minimal damage, and more embarrassingly, had not been sanitised by friendly forces.
Source: Lauren Thompson
The IFV, a model of the Bradley series of vehicles, would be the first such complete loss of sensitive material in the last five years, since a Sentinel drone was lost over the Iran-Afghanistan border.
US Army Captain Daniel Wilson said that the US was concerned about any opportunity for Military equipment to make its way onto the black market.
“I think we’re always concerned when there’s significant material, be it a vehicle, arms or ammo, that could be in danger of being out of our possession. Particularly in this case where the alleged incident has taken place in a locale where retrieving anything is made more difficult due to the close proximity of nation states counter to US aims. To comment on the unverified imagery available in the media, the vehicle appears outwardly intact, but standard practice in this situation is to, at a minimum, destroy sensitive documents and equipment within the vehicle to prevent enemy usage. Therefore there’s nothing significant from this outside of the propaganda use if the reports prove true.”
'Sensitive items were present in the wreck'Some analysts argue that, like Pakistan did with the UH-60 aircraft famously lost in the raid in 2011, local forces may be able to utilise lessons learnt from the Bradley IFV. One reporter has gone further and says that Russian media claims are accurate, confirming that sensitive items were present in the wreck and were left under fire counter to the Pentagon narrative. Foreign correspondent Lauren Thompson, working for the ICE news agency and embedded with the Eastern Ezrikistan Militia in Kalu Khan, says;
“I’ve been working with the command section of a EEM cell in the last few weeks as a part of my dispatches reporting… after posing for photos (the ones currently making the rounds in the media), the cell commander showed me the technology haul ripped straight from the vehicle while describing the objects to me. Some the items were described to me as being friendly force tracking systems used by modern troops, whilst others that I saw the leader take away looked to be maps, radios and document binders. To my limited knowledge, they all appeared to be genuine and seemed to be of some significant value to the Ezrikistan militia leader. This begs the question- why were they left behind and the vehicle not blown up?”
This incident could prove to be the first combat vehicle lost by US forces since before the drawdown in Chernarus last year, and is the first such report commented on by the Pentagon in recent years without prior confirmation by the Department of Defense in regards to sensitive material loss.
This comes on the heels of other Pentagon press releases in the last few days concerning the Ezrikistan situation.
**This news report is a fictional work to support the 506th ARMA gameplay**
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