Home Americas US Army contracts Northrop for new Bushmaster chain gun ammo development

US Army contracts Northrop for new Bushmaster chain gun ammo development

A series of 30mm airburst cartridges fired from the 30mm Bushmaster chain gun
Photo: Northrop Grumman

The US Army’s Project Manager for Maneuver Ammunition Systems (PM-MAS) has awarded Northrop Grumman a contract for the development of a new airburst cartridge for the 30mm XM813 Bushmaster chain gun.

The company said the gun and ammunition function as a system and will provide greater capability for the Army’s up-gunned Stryker Brigade Combat Team fleets.

The 30mm x 173mm airburst cartridge will feature a contact set fuze design with three operational fuze modes: programmable airburst, point detonation and point detonation with delay. The initial contract will fund the completion of the engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) phase and final qualification by the Army.

Northrop Grumman added it would also begin deliveries this year of the first airburst type cartridge to support the US Army’s Germany-based, 2nd Cavalry Regiment’s Stryker infantry carrier vehicle (ICV) fleet that were recently ‘up-gunned’ with the company’s 30mm Bushmaster chain gun. The new airburst cartridge in development also will support additional US Army platforms to include, but not limited to, the future Stryker Brigade Combat Teams.

“Northrop Grumman is leading the way in developing new ammunition types that provide existing gun systems with increased capabilities to defeat difficult targets ranging from threat drones to targets in defilade positions,” said Dan Olson, vice president, armament systems, Northrop Grumman.

According to the company, the newly fielded gun system nearly doubles the range of the platform’s current .50-caliber machine gun.