US Army Orders Mossberg 590A1 Shotguns for Drone Defense

The US Army is reaching back to a very old tool to deal with a very new problem. Mossberg & Sons has confirmed a fresh Pentagon contract worth about $11.6 million for additional Mossberg 590A1 pump action shotguns, a weapon the US military has relied on since 1987.

This time, however, the mission is not breaching doors or guarding ships. It is shooting drones out of the sky.

Based on typical government pricing of roughly $800 to $1,000 per unit including support and spares, the deal likely covers somewhere between 12,000 and 14,000 shotguns. According to Sandboxx News, the Army is buying this batch specifically for counter drone work, making it one of the first times shotguns are being procured almost entirely for the anti UAS role.

These guns are meant to engage small commercial style drones at short ranges, the kind of threats that are too cheap, too numerous, and too agile to justify missiles or high end electronic warfare every time one appears.

Tungsten Shot and the Logic of Cloud Defense

The real star of this program is not just the shotgun, but the ammunition. The Army plans to pair the 590A1 with two ounce tungsten number 9 birdshot loads. That may sound unimpressive until you look at the physics.

Tungsten Super Shot, often called TSS or Super 18, is brutally dense. It is about 125 percent denser than steel, roughly 50 percent denser than HeviShot, and more than 60 percent denser than traditional lead. That density means smaller pellets retain velocity better, hit harder, and penetrate more than their size suggests.

In practical terms, Super 18 TSS has penetration energy similar to lead shot five sizes larger. That allows the military to use extremely small pellets while still delivering enough energy to damage rotors, motors, sensors, or flight controllers.

A three inch shell carrying two ounces of tungsten number 9 shot can pack more than 900 tiny pellets. Against a drone, you do not need a perfect hit. One pellet through a prop or motor housing is often enough to end the flight.

The intended engagement envelope is about 40 to 60 yards, with an acceptable pattern defined as roughly 90 percent of the pellets landing inside a 20 inch circle at 50 yards.

The 590A1’s heavy walled barrel, originally designed for durability, tends to produce tighter and more consistent patterns, which helps when trying to paint a moving quadcopter with a cloud of metal.

Cheap ammunition this is not, but compared to the cost of losing vehicles, troops, or infrastructure to small drones, it starts to look like a bargain.

Why a Pump Action and a Strange 17 Inch Barrel

One detail that surprises many observers is the choice of a pump action shotgun rather than a semi automatic one. On paper, a semi auto seems like the obvious answer for aerial targets. In reality, the military’s logic is very conservative.

Pump action shotguns like the 590A1 are famously reliable. They tolerate a wide range of ammunition pressures and loads that can choke or short stroke semi autos.

Tungsten shells are heavy, specialized, and not always friendly to gas or inertia systems. A pump gun does not care. If the shooter cycles the action, it will fire.

The 590A1 itself is built like a brick. It has a heavy walled barrel, metal trigger guard, bayonet lug, dual extractors, twin action bars to prevent binding, and a parkerized finish for corrosion resistance.

The aluminum receiver and tang mounted ambidextrous safety also make it adaptable for different users in stressful environments. When you are handing weapons to soldiers in mud, dust, rain, and cold, boring reliability beats theoretical performance.

Then there is the barrel length. The Army ordered a 12 gauge configuration with a 17 inch barrel, which is an odd choice outside the usual 14, 18.5, or 20 inch military standards. This length was originally created to fit weapon racks on submarines, where space constraints are unforgiving and every inch matters.

For shooting flying targets, longer barrels traditionally rule. Shotguns used for skeet or bird hunting often run 26 to 30 inches because the added length and weight help with smooth swing, follow through, and maintaining momentum on fast moving targets. A longer sighting plane also makes it easier to track a flight path rather than snap shooting.

Short barrels do the opposite. They start and stop quickly, which is perfect for close quarters combat but less forgiving when leading a moving drone. France, for example, has reportedly used Benelli SuperNova shotguns with 28 inch barrels for counter drone work, and the reasoning is obvious.

So why 17 inches? Likely because this program prioritizes mobility, storage compatibility, and multi role use over pure aerial shooting performance.

As the war in Ukraine has shown, militaries end up using whatever shotguns they have on hand, in many different barrel lengths, to bring down drones. A 17 inch barrel may not be ideal, but a dense tungsten cloud from any shotgun is still a serious threat to a small UAV.

DroneXL’s Take

There is something quietly poetic about all this. Faced with buzzing plastic quadcopters packed with cameras and explosives, the US Army is answering with a pump action shotgun design that traces its lineage back decades, loaded with one of the most advanced hunting materials ever developed.

No radar lock, no software update, no data link to jam. Just physics, density, and a cloud of tungsten meeting fragile spinning parts. It may not look futuristic, but as counter drone history keeps reminding us, the most effective solutions are often the ones that work every time, even when everything else breaks.

Photo credit: DVIDS, Amazon.