U.S. Army air and missile defense crewmembers engage unmanned aerial targets with the XM914 30mm cannon on an M1265A1 Maneuver Short-Range Air Defense Stryker during counter-UAS live-fire, Project Flytrap, Pabradė Training Area, Lithuania, May 2026. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Max Elliott via DVIDS (public domain). Appearance of U.S. DoD visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement.

Northrop Grumman Pairs a Dual-Feed 30mm Bushmaster With Proximity-Fuzed Rounds for the Counter-Drone Fight

Northrop Grumman is expanding production of its M230LF Dual Feed Bushmaster, a 30x113mm chain gun that switches between two ammunition natures at the push of a button: the XM1198 high-explosive round against armour and the XM1211 proximity-fuzed round against drones. The XM1211, developed with the United States Army, detonates near a small unmanned aircraft and disperses fragmentation, with a self-destruct at maximum range.

Technical Summary

Northrop Grumman disclosed on 28 July 2026 that it is ramping production of its M230LF Dual Feed Bushmaster Chain Gun and the specialised ammunition that pairs with it, positioning the combination as a gun-based counter-unmanned aircraft system (C-UAS) answer for ground forces. The M230LF is a 30x113mm chain gun in the Bushmaster family. The dual-feed mechanism lets a single weapon hold two ammunition natures ready at once and select between them without reloading or swapping weapons, so the same barrel can engage a ground vehicle and then a drone overhead.

The two natures are the XM1198 and the XM1211. The XM1198 is the High Explosive Dual Purpose with Self-Destruct (HEDP-SD) round, a shaped-charge and fragmentation nature intended against light armour and materiel; it is derived from the Apache M789 HEDP cartridge by swapping the electric primer for a percussion primer and adding a self-destruct feature to limit collateral damage in ground-to-air engagements. The XM1211 is a 30x113mm proximity-fuzed round, developed and produced with the United States Army, carrying a target-detecting proximity sensor. Against a small, fast unmanned aircraft the round is designed to detonate when the fuze senses the target at close range and disperse a fragmentation pattern, rather than relying on a direct body-to-body hit. If it detects no target, the round is designed to self-destruct in the air at maximum range to limit the hazard to people and property on the ground.

The XM1198 and XM1211 were both fielded to meet the urgent counter-drone need of the Mobile Low, Slow, Small Unmanned Aircraft System Integrated Defeat System (M-LIDS) and Manoeuvre Short-Range Air Defense (M-SHORAD), where the same 30mm natures are carried on the XM914 and M230LF chain guns. The production ramp Northrop Grumman disclosed on 28 July 2026 follows a US Army contract valued at more than 200 million US dollars, announced on 3 December 2025, for XM1211 High Explosive Proximity round production, with Northrop Grumman as the only qualified producer. That work is carried out at the company's facilities in Plymouth and Elk River, Minnesota, the Allegany Ballistics Laboratory in West Virginia and the Radford Army Ammunition Plant in Virginia.

The XM1211 is a 30x113mm proximity-fuzed round that detonates when its sensor detects a drone at close range and disperses fragmentation, and self-destructs in the air at maximum range if it finds no target. ISC assessment, citing Northrop Grumman, 28 July 2026

Analysis of Effects

The technical heart of this is fuzing, not the gun. A 30mm cannon firing point-detonating or high-explosive incendiary natures has always been able to reach a drone; the problem is the low hit probability against a small, slow, erratically manoeuvring target where a direct impact is unlikely. A proximity fuze converts that near miss into a kill by initiating a fragmentation burst within lethal radius of the target, the same principle that made the variable-time fuze decisive against aircraft and later against area targets. Applying it to a 30x113mm round for C-UAS is an incremental but operationally significant step, because it raises single-round effectiveness against the class of threat that has saturated recent battlefields.

The dual-feed architecture is the second point. Medium-calibre gun crews have historically had to commit to one ammunition nature per engagement, or accept the delay of clearing and reloading to switch. Holding an anti-armour HE nature and a proximity C-UAS nature in the same feed system, selectable at the trigger, compresses the response time when a ground threat and an air threat appear in quick succession. For the ammunition technician and the logistician the trade is a more complex feed mechanism and a two-nature resupply chain against the flexibility gained. Northrop Grumman states it is investing in production capacity for both the cannons and the rounds to shorten lead times, though those figures are company statements rather than independently verified output rates.

Personnel and Safety Considerations

A proximity-fuzed high-explosive nature carries a specific unexploded-ordnance profile that ammunition technicians and explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) staff should note. Any proximity-fuzed round that neither detonates on a target nor self-destructs as designed becomes a fuzed high-explosive item on the ground in an unknown, potentially armed state, and the self-destruct feature reduces but does not eliminate that dud population. Standard practice treats such items as fuzed and hazardous until proven otherwise. The net explosive quantity (NEQ) per round, the fragmentation pattern, the exact self-destruct time and the hazard division and compatibility group are not published in open sources; a 30mm high-explosive nature would typically fall in hazard division 1.1 or 1.2 depending on configuration and packaging. Those parameters are data gaps at this stage.

Data Gaps

Open sources do not state the XM1211 net explosive quantity, fragment mass or lethal radius; the self-destruct time or altitude; the proximity fuze detection mechanism (radio-frequency, optical or other); the hazard division and compatibility group of either the XM1198 or the XM1211; unit cost or contracted production quantities; or independently measured effectiveness data behind the manufacturer claim of demonstrated real-world results. These should be treated as data gaps, and the effectiveness claim as a manufacturer statement pending independent confirmation.

Corrections & updates welcome. If you hold open-source data that refines or corrects any parameter in this article, please contact [email protected] citing the specific claim and your source. Verified corrections will be incorporated and credited in the revision history. AI-assisted technical assessment based on open-source material. Not a formal intelligence product.