On Tuesday, January 13, 2026, Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR), acting on behalf of the United States Navy, published a Request for Information (RFI) on the System for Award Management (SAM) procurement platform as part of market research ahead of a potential acquisition of a new electrically driven, multi-barrel machine gun, which would receive the military designation GAU-24A.
7.62 mm Dillon Aero M134D multi-barrel machine gun / Photo: Grzegorz Sobczak, MILMAG
The deadline for submitting requests to participate in the procedure expires at the end of January 28, 2026. It was emphasized that this RFI is intended to identify solutions available on the market, rather than to conduct the actual procurement of a production batch of new weapons. The procedure is overseen by the US Navy Program Executive Office Unmanned Aviation and Strike Weapons.
The subject of the market research is a new 7.62 mm electrically driven, multi-barrel GAU-24/A machine gun intended for aircraft-mounted armament, developed in accordance with Tactical Data Package (TDP) requirements using a Government-owned Technical Data Package, and with a Manufacturing Readiness Level (MRL) of 8.
The new weapon could replace the 7.62×51 mm NATO six-barrel M134 Minigun Gatling-type machine gun, which has been in service across all branches of the U.S. Armed Forces since 1963: as the M134 in the United States Army, the GAU-2/A in the United States Air Force, and the GAU-17/A in the United States Navy.
Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) expects the delivery of five GAU-21/A machine guns to the Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane Division of the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) within 12 months of the award of a potential contract, for government acceptance testing. The contractor will also be required to document the capability to produce an additional 10 units per year. Furthermore, the contractor may be obligated to provide technical support during production.
The anticipated performance period of the contract is expected to fall in Fiscal Year 2027 and last approximately 36–60 months from contract award.
The estimated number of M134-family machine guns in service with the U.S. Armed Forces does not exceed 15,000 units, including just over 9,500 in the United States Army alone. The weapons were originally supplied by General Electric, which developed the system based on experience with the 20 mm M61 Vulcan aircraft cannon. Since the 1990s, production and modernization have been carried out exclusively by Dillon Aero. Alternative manufacturers also exist, including Garwood Industries and Profense LLC, with General Dynamics involved in the past.