Login
iscover
Northrop Grumman has been awarded a development contract from the US Army’s Project Manager for Maneuver Ammunition Systems (PM-MAS) to develop the next generation airburst cartridge for the 30mm XM813 Bushmaster Chain Gun.
To continue reading the rest of this article, please log in.
Create free account to get unlimited news articles and more!
Northrop Grumman will 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 – the gun and ammunition are designed to function as a system and will provide greater capability for the Army’s up-gunned Stryker Brigade Combat Team fleets.
Dan Olson, vice president, armament systems, Northrop Grumman, explained, "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."
The 30mm x 173mm airburst cartridge will feature a contact set fuse design with three operational fuse 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.
"Our air bursting technology is proven and the addition of this new round will provide the Army with an even more capable gun system for our soldiers," Olson added.
The newly fielded gun system nearly doubles the range of the platform’s current .50 caliber machine gun. The addition of an airburst cartridge provides a complete family of ammunition that arms the crew to meet the challenges posed by peer and near-peer adversarial threat systems.
Northrop Grumman solves the toughest problems in space, aeronautics, defence and cyber space to meet the ever-evolving needs of our customers worldwide.
