The US Navy is taking its strategic capabilities a notch higher by deploying hypersonic missile technology in its Zumwalt-class destroyers.
What this means is that the Navy has decided to retrofit stealthy vessels with Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) hypersonic missiles, changing everything about what it can do on the seas.
Among the Zumwalt-class destroyers from which the USS Zumwalt (DDG-1000), USS Michael Monsoor (DDG-1001), and USS Lyndon B. Johnson (DDG-1002) are derived will be a new Large Missile Vertical Launch System, replacing expensive and now defunct Advanced Gun Systems-all part of a greater overhaul to improve the Navy’s long-range strike capabilities.
This LMVLS would launch off of these ships the CPS missiles, designed to fly at higher than Mach-5 speeds, which makes them capable of striking high-value targets with unprecedented speed and accuracy.
Indeed, the fact that the latest contract worth $22.9 million has been granted to General Dynamics Bath Iron Works to support long-lead items needed for the LMVLS launch module fabrication of the USS Michael Monsoor speaks to this fact.
LMVLS orders had already preceded previous contracts on the USS Zumwalt and the USS Lyndon B. Johnson, while still indicating strategic orientation of the Navy toward hypersonic weaponry.
The integration of the missiles is far from smooth sailing.
Questions have been asked over the maturity of the technologies concerned, and GAO mentions the refit process being thus delayed.
But, as noted, the Navy is intent on pressing on through these difficulties, and by 2028, it anticipates the first deployment of the CPS missile on the Virginia-class submarines.
The stealthy design and advanced propulsion systems of the Zumwalt-class destroyers give them their unique capability to carry such advanced systems onboard.
These destroyers would be operating both in the open ocean as well as in coastal environments, and that would make them a decisive asset for the United States Navy.
When the capabilities of the Navy advance with time, these Zumwalt-class destroyers will play an important role in keeping maritime superiority.
As the Navy steers into a new course in using hypersonic technology, the Zumwalt-class destroyers stand at the head of an embryonic form of naval warfare, promising enhanced capabilities for deterrence and power projection.
More related images you might find interesting:
