U.S. Army Tests New 50mm Cannon as Part of Plan to Replace the Bradley Fighting Vehicle.

The U.S. Army has ordered 16 XM913 50mm Bushmaster Chain Guns from Northrop Grumman to support the XM30 Mechanized Infantry Combat Vehicle competition, with deliveries already underway to Army test units. The move signals a deliberate shift toward higher-caliber direct-fire weapons as the service seeks greater overmatch, survivability, and growth margin beyond the aging Bradley fleet.

In January 2026, Northrop Grumman confirmed that the U.S. Army has now ordered a total of 16 XM913 50mm Bushmaster Chain Guns for a new round of trials tied to the XM30 Mechanized Infantry Combat Vehicle competition. The announcement lands at a moment when the Army is openly framing XM30 as a lethality and survivability reset for Armored Brigade Combat Teams, and Northrop Grumman says deliveries to DEVCOM have begun, with the cannons provided as Government Furnished Equipment to both American Rheinmetall Vehicles and General Dynamics Land Systems.
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Northrop Grumman's 50 mm XM913 Bushmaster Chain Gun pairs dual-feed firepower with programmable air-burst and armor-piercing rounds, enabling accurate fire on the move and rapid defeat of armored and protected targets for the U.S. Army's XM30 (Picture source: Northrop Grumman).

XM30, redesignated from the Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle effort, is the Army’s long-running attempt to push past the physical upgrade ceiling of the M2 Bradley. In the official contract announcement for prototypes, the Army described XM30 as a transformational replacement with improved lethality, Soldier-vehicle survivability, and upgradeability, enabled by a modular open systems approach. That architecture matters because the gun is only the visible tip of a broader kill chain: the Army wants an unmanned or remote turret, modern sensors and fire control, and space and power growth to accept new effects and protection systems as threats evolve.

XM913 is the largest medium-caliber chain gun in Northrop Grumman’s Bushmaster line and fires 50x228 mm ammunition. Like other chain guns, its external drive and controlled cycle are valued for reliability, consistent feeding, and predictable recoil management, especially when integrated in stabilized turrets that must shoot accurately while moving. Northrop Grumman highlights dual-feed and first-round-select operation, letting the gunner switch between natures of ammunition instantly without breaking contact, a practical advantage when targets shift from armored vehicles to dismounts in cover in the same engagement.

The new ammunition suite is where XM913’s tactical relevance becomes obvious. The Army’s 50x228 mm family includes High Explosive Air Bursting and an Armor Piercing Fin Stabilized Discarding Sabot, designed to deliver both area effects and armor defeat from the same weapon. The HE air-burst round can be programmed in point detonation, delayed point detonation, or air burst, enabling a single projectile type to address light structures, trench lines, reverse-slope positions, and troops behind cover, while the APFSDS round is intended for hard targets and armored threats. In operational terms, that programmability compresses the time from detection to effect: the gunner can tailor the burst point to the target rather than relying solely on volume of fire or calling for indirect assets.

Northrop Grumman positions XM913 as a step-change over the Bradley’s 25x137 mm M242, pointing to increased lethality, accuracy, and range, including stationary and fire-on-the-move capability. The XM30 integration pairs the cannon with a computerized fire control system intended to engage static and moving targets with high first-round-hit probability, and the gunner can select single-shot, burst, or automatic fire, with spent cases ejected forward out of the turret. The practical battlefield effect is less exposure time: if a vehicle can achieve first-round effects at a longer standoff, it reduces the window in which enemy anti-tank teams, loitering munitions, or direct-fire systems can respond.

There is also a logistics and readiness argument embedded in the choice. Northrop Grumman explicitly emphasizes training and maintenance commonality with the Bushmaster lineage already familiar to U.S. crews and maintainers, describing that commonality as a low-risk path to rapid readiness as XM30 replaces Bradley. XM30 may stow fewer rounds than Bradley, but the 50 mm effects are expected to reduce the number of rounds required to neutralize a target, a subtle but important efficiency claim when formations are operating dispersed, and resupply is contested.

On integration and potential mounts, the near-term answer is simple: XM913 is being delivered to DEVCOM for Army testing and then issued to the two XM30 primes, and Northrop Grumman imagery shows the gun depicted on GDLS’s Griffin III concept and Rheinmetall’s Lynx concept as representative XM30 candidates. Beyond XM30, the broader Bushmaster family history hints at the export and adaptation logic. XM913 leverages the 35 mm Bushmaster III used on CV90 fleets in multiple European armies, while U.S. Army guns are dual-feed, the system can also be offered in a linkless configuration for other customers, with the complete weapon (receiver, feeder, barrel, muzzle brake) reported at 314 kg. In analyst terms, that combination of mass, ammunition volume, and recoil management points to installation on larger IFVs and heavy platforms with adequate turret-ring diameter and internal stowage, particularly remote turrets designed from the outset for the 50 mm class.

The strategic signal is that the Army is no longer treating medium caliber as a marginal upgrade. By tying XM913 deliveries directly to XM30’s competitive prototyping pathway and open-architecture design philosophy, the service is building a vehicle where the gun, sensors, and protection suite are meant to evolve together, rather than chasing upgrades one subsystem at a time. If XM30 fulfills that promise, XM913 will be remembered not simply as a bigger cannon, but as the weapon that made overmatch credible again at the decisive close-combat range where armored infantry actually wins or loses.