The M2 Bradley Has a Problem: A Video Game Spilled Its Secrets
Secretive military documents related to the M2A2 Bradley fighting vehicle were leaked on the War Thunder game forums. According to multiple reports, these weren't actually legally classified details of the Bradley, yet they were still considered sensitive material.
M2 Bradley Sensitive Information Leaked – Should Security Clearance Be Required to Play War Thunder? - Just before Christmas last month, secretive military documents related to the M2A2 Bradley fighting vehicle were leaked on the War Thunder game forums. According to multiple reports, these weren't actually legally classified details of the Bradley, yet, were still considered sensitive material.
The documents included two pages out of the TM 9-2350-439-23P-2 manual – which provided details on the hatch, turret assembly, and spall liner assembly – were posted in the "Machinery of War" discussion forum, only to be taken down just 12 minutes later. That was still enough time for some users to make copies. The information has since been shared on Reddit and Discord.
Such documents are not intended to be passed beyond the Pentagon and defense contractors.
An Ongoing Problem
It was far from the first time such content has been shared on the forums for the popular free-to-play online game War Thunder. In fact, it could almost be argued that what was posted about the M2A2 was rather blasé, at least compared to what has been posted to the forums in recent years.
According to Task & Purpose, this was the 14th time that sensitive or classified information has been leaked on the War Thunder forums. Classified information about the AH-64D Apache Longbow helicopter and the F-117 Nighthawk was previously leaked in the forums.
It was also just a year ago that the manuals for the McDonnell Douglas F-15E Strike Eagle and General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon were posted on the forum for the online military simulation. The leak for the F-15E reportedly consisted of numerous Operational Flight Program (OFP) software manuals, including those for flight controls, navigation, targeting, and even weapons systems.
The documents had apparently been published between 1998 and 2000 and pertained to OFP suite 3, which has been upgraded numerous times in the past two decades.
All of the posts have since been deleted by the game's publisher, Gaijin Entertainment. However, screenshots of the discussions have spread across social media – a reminder that once something is put online, it is almost impossible for it to be completely removed.
Too Much Information – Some Classified
The Hungarian-based game publisher has some experience removing classified or otherwise sensitive information about modern combat vehicles from its forum. This has even included classified military documents from the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) regarding its DTC10-125, an anti-tank round fielded by modern Chinese tanks.
Those documents were posted in the summer of 2022, and while many of the details about the ordnance were reportedly already widely known, it was the first time that authenticating documentation had been seen outside of China.
Nearly a year earlier in 2021, details were leaked about the British Army's Challenger 2 main battle tanks – the same vehicles that the British Ministry of Defense (MoD) has supplied to Ukraine.
In addition, another gamer shared part of the manual for the Leclerc Serie 2MBT, which is now in service with the French military. Gaijin Entertainment had removed all of those posts as well.
Gamer Gonna Overshare!
It was also last spring that Jack Teixeira, a now 22-year-old former member of the 102nd Intelligence Wing of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, leaked numerous classified documents over the course of several months.
As many as 53 documents that shed light on the war in Ukraine and threatened to upend U.S. governments with its allies around the globe were shared to the social media platform Discord, which is a popular service with video gamers.
It would seem instead of going to great lengths to find the secrets on the latest military hardware, the intelligence community (IC) only just needs to head to the gaming forums!
Author Experience and Expertise: Peter Suciu
Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer. He has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers, and websites with over 3,200 published pieces over a twenty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author: [email protected].
