What is the difference between the above vehicles? Is it just the antennas, armor/

Thanks
Mike

Internal stowage (M3A3 has more missile stowage) and TOW loader's hatch is different. M3A3 has periscopes on the hatch itself, M2A3 has them on the rear deck behind the hatch. Mechanically there is no difference. BAE mechanics don't even differentiate between the two when working on them. M3A3 may or may not have rear shooting port deleted on ramp.

found this...
http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/m2.htm

Go with what Rob says. In addition, the internal seating layout is different as well. Both of Meng's M2A3 and M3A3 are very nice and correct with the proper internal layout as well.

M2A3 TOW loaders hatch.


M3A3 TOW loaders hatch.

M3 was optimized for the cavalry scout mission and in most cases has only two seats in the rear area. The space freed up goes to additional ammunition/TOW stowage. The rear hatch has periscopes embedded in order to give those scouts a better view before leaving the vehicle. The rear firing ports were omitted on most vehicles, or plated over. The rest of the vehicle is essentially identical to the M2.

And for those who want the ultimate reference for both versions, as well as earleir versions, there's my reference, which Meng used. In fact, that's my photo of the hatch in the above post. Still a GREAT deal at $14.99 for 824 files. About four times as many photos as your average reference book, at half the cost.