{"id":21833880,"date":"2026-09-12T12:56:56","date_gmt":"2026-09-12T10:56:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/usaf-ground-based-medium-caliber-gun-air-base-defence-2026\/"},"modified":"2026-09-12T12:57:21","modified_gmt":"2026-09-12T10:57:21","slug":"usaf-ground-based-medium-caliber-gun-air-base-defence-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/es\/usaf-ground-based-medium-caliber-gun-air-base-defence-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"USAF Seeks Medium-Caliber Guns to Defend Its Air Bases"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.et_pb_title_container h1.entry-title { padding-top: 40px !important; }<\/style>\r\n\r\n<p>For thirty years the United States Air Force has fought wars in which nothing much threatened its airfields. Aircraft were parked in neat rows in the open because nobody could reach them.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>That assumption is gone. And the Air Force&rsquo;s response is to go looking for something it largely gave up decades ago: anti-aircraft guns.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>On 3 September 2026 it published a request for information for a Ground-Based, Medium-Caliber Gun Weapon System. Responses are due by 9 October.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f5f5f5;padding:20px 24px;margin:26px 0;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF\">\r\n<p style=\"margin:0 0 10px;font-weight:700;font-size:17px;color:#222\">Datos r\u00e1pidos<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"margin:4px 0;font-size:15px;line-height:1.7\"><strong>Qu\u00e9 es:<\/strong> a U.S. Air Force request for information for a Ground-Based, Medium-Caliber Gun Weapon System<br>\r\n<strong>Published:<\/strong> 3 September 2026, on SAM.gov. Responses due 9 October 2026<br>\r\n<strong>Objetivos:<\/strong> initially subsonic cruise missiles and uncrewed aircraft, from Group 1 through Group 5 &mdash; hand-launched quadcopters up to large drones operating above 18,000 ft<br>\r\n<strong>Calibre:<\/strong> not specified. &ldquo;Medium-calibre&rdquo; conventionally means roughly 20 mm to 50 mm<br>\r\n<strong>Assessment criteria:<\/strong> 15 baseline parameters, including probability of kill, range, elevation, magazine capacity, crew size, sensor integration and the ability to defeat saturation attacks<br>\r\n<strong>Deployability:<\/strong> the RFI asks for a lightweight, modular, transportable system that can be moved quickly into austere locations<br>\r\n<strong>Parallel effort:<\/strong> in August 2026 the U.S. Army issued a sources-sought notice for a 50 mm anti-drone cannon, with live fire planned using Northrop Grumman&rsquo;s XM913 Bushmaster<br>\r\n<strong>\u00bfPor qu\u00e9 ahora?<\/strong> Iranian strikes on U.S. installations in the Middle East, which killed American personnel and, according to a congressional report, left 42 U.S. aircraft lost or damaged during Operation Epic Fury<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">The arithmetic that broke air defence<\/h2>\r\n\r\n<p>The problem is not that American air defences do not work. It is that they are economically unsustainable against the thing now being thrown at them.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>A Patriot interceptor costs millions of dollars. A one-way attack drone can cost tens of thousands, sometimes less. Trading the first for the second is a victory on the day and a defeat over a campaign, because the attacker can build faster than the defender can restock.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/09\/patriot-missile-launcher-air-defence.jpg\" alt=\"A Patriot missile launcher silhouetted at sunrise\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">A Patriot launcher. Superb against ballistic missiles and aircraft, and a ruinous way to shoot down a cheap drone. Photo: U.S. Army.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>The RFI is unusually blunt about this being the design constraint rather than an afterthought.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #d32f2f;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7\"><em>&ldquo;Must optimize munition performance versus munition cost and gun capability, ensuring that the interceptor&rsquo;s velocity, maneuverability, and terminal effects are maximized without driving the cost-per-engagement to unsustainable levels or exceeding the physical constraints of the host platform.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Fuerza A\u00e9rea de los Estados Unidos<\/strong> &mdash; Ground-Based, Medium-Caliber Gun Weapon System request for information, 3 September 2026<\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>A gun fixes the arithmetic. A 35 mm round costs a few hundred dollars rather than a few million, and a magazine holds a great many of them. Against a saturation attack, the side with more shots wins, and guns have far more shots.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">This is not a new idea, it is a returning one<\/h2>\r\n\r\n<p>The United States already knows guns work for this. The Centurion C-RAM &mdash; a naval Phalanx close-in weapon system mounted on a trailer &mdash; went to Iraq in late 2006 to protect the Green Zone, where its six rotating 20 mm barrels became one of the defining sounds of the war.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/09\/c-ram-counter-rocket-artillery-mortar-fire.jpg\" alt=\"Soldiers boresighting a Counter Rocket, Artillery and Mortar weapon at Bagram Airfield\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">A Counter Rocket, Artillery and Mortar system being boresighted at Bagram Airfield. The C-RAM proved the concept two decades ago; the new requirement asks for more range and a bigger round. Photo: U.S. Forces Afghanistan.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>What has changed is the target set. C-RAM was built to catch rockets and mortar bombs on short, predictable ballistic arcs. A cruise missile flies a powered profile and manoeuvres; a drone loiters, approaches from an unexpected bearing, and may arrive with forty friends. That demands more range and a heavier, smarter projectile than 20 mm delivers.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Which is why the calibre bracket matters. European systems have already converged on this answer: Rheinmetall&rsquo;s Skyranger 35 uses a 35 mm revolver cannon firing programmable airburst ammunition that detonates near the target and throws a cloud of tungsten sub-projectiles &mdash; reportedly 152 of them per round &mdash; into its path. You do not need to hit a drone. You need to put metal where it is going.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/heyx2dOUot4\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;font-style:italic;margin-top:-10px\">The Centurion C-RAM, the land-based Phalanx that has been doing this job since 2006.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">The sensors are the hard part<\/h2>\r\n\r\n<p>Guns are the easy half. Finding a small, slow, low-flying object against ground clutter, classifying it correctly and tracking it accurately enough to put a burst in front of it is the genuinely difficult engineering, and the RFI puts the burden squarely on bidders.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #1565c0;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7\"><em>&ldquo;Must carefully select the organic sensor capability and phenomenology &mdash; integrating the right mix of radar, electro-optical, infrared, or radio-frequency sensors &mdash; to ensure reliable target acquisition and tracking across varying weather conditions, environments, and countermeasure scenarios.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Fuerza A\u00e9rea de los Estados Unidos<\/strong> &mdash; Ground-Based, Medium-Caliber Gun Weapon System request for information, 3 September 2026<\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>The word doing the work there is &ldquo;organic&rdquo;. The Air Force wants a system that brings its own eyes, rather than one that depends on being plugged into a larger air defence network that may not exist at a dispersal field. That is a direct consequence of Agile Combat Employment: if the plan is to scatter aircraft across many small locations, each location needs its own protection.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/sAgR9xgdmUc\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;font-style:italic;margin-top:-10px\">Why stopping large numbers of cheap drones is as much a sensing and electronic problem as a shooting one.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/kCAGZKRPH2g\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;font-style:italic;margin-top:-10px\">A demonstration of the radar and electronic-warfare side of the problem: finding and tracking the target is what decides whether the gun ever gets a useful shot.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">An RFI is not a programme<\/h2>\r\n\r\n<p>It is worth keeping expectations calibrated. A request for information is the Air Force asking industry what exists and what it would cost. It is not a competition, not a contract and not a budget line, and plenty of RFIs lead nowhere.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>What makes this one credible is that the demand signal is not theoretical. Aircraft have been damaged on the ground, personnel have been killed, and the Army is running a parallel effort at 50 mm. When two services independently reach for the same answer in the same season, something has changed in how the Pentagon expects the next fight to look.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>For an air force that has spent a generation treating its own runways as sanctuary, that is the uncomfortable part. The guns are coming back because the sanctuary is gone.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p><em>Sources: U.S. Air Force request for information published on SAM.gov, Military Times, Air &amp; Space Forces Magazine, Army Recognition, Northrop Grumman, Rheinmetall, congressional reporting on Operation Epic Fury.<\/em><\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f0f4ff;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:16px 20px;margin:32px 0 8px\">\r\n<p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:600;color:#333\">Publicaciones relacionadas<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/es\/pacaf-dronebuster-5-counter-drone-jammers-2026\/\">PACAF Wants 60 DroneBusters and Has No Money Yet<\/a><\/p>\r\n<p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/es\/sistema-antidrones-aereos-de-energia-dirigida-del-pentagono-2026\/\">El Pent\u00e1gono quiere l\u00e1seres que vuelen<\/a><\/p>\r\n<p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/es\/spart-interceptor-drone-thermopylae-shahed-killer-2026\/\">SPART: La respuesta de $10,000 del joven de 21 a\u00f1os al Shahed<\/a><\/p>\r\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After Iranian strikes damaged aircraft on the ground, the U.S. Air Force wants transportable anti-aircraft guns. The arithmetic that brought them back.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":21833125,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[664],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21833880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-military-aviation"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>USAF Wants Guns Back for Air Base Defence | MiGFlug<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"After Iranian strikes damaged US aircraft on the ground, the Air Force is shopping for medium-calibre air base defence guns. 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