Raid Hunter

A developmental American 50 mm gun-based air-defense system intended to counter massed drones, cruise missiles and mixed aerial raids with guided ammunition and a deep, reloadable magazine.

Overview

Raid Hunter is Northrop Grumman's developmental 50 mm Gun-Based Air Defense system for short-range protection of military bases, airfields and critical infrastructure. It combines a high-rate-of-fire Bushmaster Chain Gun, precision-guided ammunition and a networked system controller designed to coordinate engagements against unmanned aerial systems, drone swarms, cruise missiles and other complex aerial threats.

Northrop Grumman introduced Raid Hunter as the production name for its previously identified 50mm GBAD concept on 11 August 2026. The product launch did not announce a customer, procurement contract or fielded unit. The company instead describes an ongoing maturation and test effort conducted with government and allied partners, with testing planned to validate performance and support accelerated fielding.

Raid Hunter addresses the unfavorable economics of using expensive surface-to-air missiles against large numbers of comparatively inexpensive targets. Its proposed advantage is not a cost-free engagement, as pursued by directed-energy weapons, but a lower-cost guided projectile combined with high-volume fire, a deep magazine and conventional reloading. Effective range, rate of fire, magazine capacity, reaction time and ammunition guidance method have not been publicly established.

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