Barrett to build Northrop’s 25mm smart grenade launcher

Northrop Grumman has teamed up with Barrett Firearms to build the launcher for its Precision Grenadier System, a shoulder-fired 25 mm grenade launcher meant to let infantry squads hit enemies hiding behind cover and shoot down small drones, the companies announced on Oct. 12 at the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual meeting in Washington.

Under the agreement, Barrett will manufacture the weapon at its plant in Nashville, Tennessee, and integrate the inductive setter, the device that programs each round with the distance at which it should detonate before it leaves the barrel. Northrop Grumman will continue to lead development of the overall system and of its family of 25 mm ammunition, and says it is offering the weapon to both U.S. and international customers. The companies say pairing Northrop Grumman’s ammunition and military programs experience with Barrett’s commercial and military firearms production will let them move quickly from prototype to delivery for U.S. and allied forces.

The Precision Grenadier System is designed to give an infantry squad a precise way to reach targets in defilade, meaning enemy soldiers sheltering behind walls, trenches or terrain that direct rifle fire cannot hit, as well as to fight at close quarters and engage small drones. Northrop Grumman’s 25 mm ammunition family includes a high-explosive airburst round that detonates above or beside a target at a programmed distance, a proximity round that senses a nearby drone and explodes without needing to be programmed, a close-quarters battle round, and a training round ballistically matched to the combat rounds. The weapon feeds from detachable box magazines.

The design builds on Northrop Grumman’s experience with the XM25, a 25 mm airburst weapon the company inherited through its 2018 purchase of Orbital ATK, which U.S. Army units tested in combat in Afghanistan before the program ended in 2018. The U.S. Army launched its Precision Grenadier System effort to replace the M203 and M320 40 mm grenade launchers carried by infantry squads today with a semi-automatic, magazine-fed weapon that combines the launcher, smart ammunition and a digital fire-control sight.

Several teams are working on solutions for the U.S. Army requirement in calibers from 25 mm to 40 mm. Barrett and MARS Inc. won the Army’s xTech Soldier Lethality competition in May 2025 with a 30 mm grenade rifle, and FN America has continued testing its MTL-30 launcher under a separate Army prototype award. Northrop Grumman earlier developed its 25 mm launcher with Colt before selecting Barrett to manufacture the weapon.

The U.S. Army plans to turn the Precision Grenadier System into a formal acquisition program and award a prototype agreement, and Northrop Grumman says it is continuing prototyping and ammunition development with Barrett to meet that requirement and interest from international buyers.