New dual-fed chain gun aims to take out 2 targets in 1: Weapon of the week

Northrop Grumman introduced its latest innovation, the dual-fed M230LF Bushmaster chain gun. John McCollum, director of Strategy & Business Development at Northrop Grumman, talked with the Weapons and Warfare team to discuss the new weapon.

The following conversation has been edited for length and clarity. Watch the full video above.

Ryan Robertson: We got a beast of a gun behind us. It’s the Bushmaster, dual-fed chain gun. Why? Why do we need a dual-fed Bushmaster?

John McCollum: Yeah, this dual-fed M230LF is the latest Bushmaster chain gun that we’re really excited about introducing here at the show. And the key for this dual-fed gun is that we had a demand from our customers to address the UAV threat. How this gun helps do that is, it can use two different types of ammunition so you have the right ammunition for both the UAV and the traditional ground threats. And at a flip of the switch, the operator can switch between those two appropriate types of ammunition.

So, the two types of ammunition here are the high explosive PROX round, which we use to address the UAVs, as well as the traditional high explosive dual purpose, which we use against the ground targets.

Robertson: So, when we’re talking about the different types of ammo that the gun can shoot, what exactly are we talking about?

McCollum: Yeah, there are really, there’s this full suite of 30×113, NATO standard ammunition that this cannon fires. But the two that we would recommend to load in the dual feed to address both the drones and the ground threats, or the high explosive dual purpose, which is for the ground, and then the proximity fused ammunition, which can address the drones because it can sense the target, and so if it gets close enough to the target to sense it then goes off and frags against the drone.

Robertson: That’s some science fiction that you just explained to me. The round itself can sense the target.

McCollum: The round has a sensor in the nose, and so it can actually sense the target, and it knows then the appropriate time to go off to be able to take it out.

Robertson: That’s crazy, John. What’s next? I mean, obviously, you unveiled it this week at the show. Is it in production at this point?

McCollum: It’s currently TRL (technology readiness level) six. So, this is our working prototype, the actual gun here, and we’re going to take it to a live fire sometime next year and demonstrate it for some of the customers that are interested. And then at that point, we’ll be able to start taking orders.

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