US Navy’s guided-missile destroyer to receive hypersonic weapons upgrade

News, US September 3, 2023 , by IRIA No Comments

The U.S. Navy’s guided-missile destroyer USS Zumwalt arrived at the Pascagoula port in Mississippi. The vessel has been reported to receive hypersonic missile upgrades by Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII), America’s largest shipbuilding company.

The lead ship of the U.S. Navy’s Zumwalt-class destroyers, USS Zumwalt (DDG-1000) arrived in Pascagoula on August 19, 2023, to go through upgradation and weapons modernization including the installation of the Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) hypersonic missile system. The U.S. Navy plans to deploy hypersonic weapons-carrying naval destroyers in the Indo-Pacific region by 2025.

The U.S. Navy has awarded a $154.8 million contract to the HII for the integration of hypersonic weapons into its destroyer ships. Under the contract, HII would install the Conventional Prompt Strike hypersonic missile system on two of the U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyers, USS Zumwalt and USS Monsoor.

“It is an honor to serve the sailors of Zumwalt and to welcome them to our community,” HII Shipbuilding’s construction manager Bruce Knowles said in a news release adding that “The Ingalls team is ready to support you in completing this important work.”

“The upgrades will ensure Zumwalt remains one of the most technologically advanced and lethal ships in the U.S. Navy,” a spokesperson for the Naval Surface Force Commander Arlo Abrahamson, told reporters earlier this month.

*^{U.S. Navy’s guided-missile destroyer USS Zumwalt (DDG 1000). (Image Credit: Raytheon Missiles & Defense/U.S. Navy)}*

Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) hypersonic missile system

Developed by the U.S. defense manufacturer, Lockheed Martin, The Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) is a hypersonic boost-glide missile and weapon system that will be fielded on multiple platforms for the U.S. Navy. The CPS all-up-round missile includes a two-stage solid rocket motor booster and a Common Hypersonic Glide Body containing a kinetic energy projectile warhead.

To accommodate the hypersonic weapons capabilities, USS Zumwalt’s original twin 155mm Advanced Gun Systems would be replaced with four 87-inch missile tubes. Each of the four tubes would hold three Common Hypersonic Glide Bodies (C-HGB) hypersonic missiles. The missiles are jointly developed by the U.S. Army and the Navy. The missiles are part of the Pentagon’s conventional strategic weapon systems that can strike any target on the planet with minimal warning.

Earlier this year, the Government Accountability Office said the deployment of the C-HGB timeline could be later than planned on Zumwalt due to delays in the development of the weapon.

“If the hypersonic weapon is not ready for integration on the DDG-1000 at the time of the aforementioned maintenance period, the Navy may have to extend the duration of the planned maintenance period or wait for the next scheduled period to incorporate the system on the ship,” reads the June report.

USS Zumwalt has previously been criticized by media outlets and analysts due to the enormous cost invested in the ship and the various technical issues the destroyer has encountered.