Alliant Techsystems Operations LLC, Plymouth, Minnesota, was awarded a $105,688,911 modification (PZ0005) to contract W56HZV-20-D-0108 to produce, deliver and maintain the new production configuration build of 30×173 mm XM813 Bushmaster Chain Gun. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 24, 2026.The United States Army Research, Development and Engineering Command helped enhance the XM813 mainly for safety and turret integration U.S. Army Contracting Command, Detroit Arsenal, Michigan, is the contracting activity.
The XM813 Bushmaster produced by ATK Defense, is based on the Mk44 Bushmaster Chain Gun® and is offered as an upgrade for M1126 Stryker and M2 Bradley. Improvements include a one-inch longer barrel, integral mount to increase first round hit probability by up to 10 percent, and dual recoil system to enhance accuracy and cope with future hotter propellants. The current contract will support enhancements to the XM813 and the integration of the chain guns into an additional U.S. Army Brigade Combat Team.
It can have a next-round select, linkless feed system. The 30 mm chain gun can fire Mk310 Programmable Air Burst Munition (PABM) with air-burst, point-detonate and point-detonate with delay fuze settings to defeat a variety of targets. The XM813 was initially fielded to meet the urgent operational need to ‘upgun’ the 2nd Cavalry Regiment’s Stryker fleet based in Germany to provide crews with increased capability to defend against emerging threats. The base contract and first delivery order calls for 95 chain guns with initial deliveries beginning in early 2022.
Alliant Techsystems Inc. (ATK) was an American aerospace, defense, and sporting goods company with its headquarters in Arlington County, Virginia, in the United States. In 2014 Orbital merged with Alliant Techsystems to create a new company called Orbital ATK, Inc., which in turn was purchased by Northrop Grumman in 2018. The remnants of the former Orbital Sciences Corporation today are a subsidiary of Northrop Grumman known as Northrop Grumman Space Systems. Orbital ATK was absorbed and became Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems.
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