Navy’s Zumwalt-Class Could Soon Become A Hypersonic Weapons “Battleship”

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Key Points: The US Navy plans to equip Zumwalt-class destroyers with Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) hypersonic missiles by 2027, aiming to counter China’s YJ-21 and Russia’s Tsirkon.

-The CPS system uses a Common Glide Body shared with the Army’s Long Range Hypersonic Weapon, enabling faster production and upgrades like in-flight course adjustments for targeting moving threats.

-This high-speed weaponry will enhance US strike capabilities by reaching targets at speeds over Mach 6, limiting enemy response time.

-As China tests hypersonic systems to deter US intervention near Taiwan, the Pentagon is accelerating development to close the hypersonic capability gap with rival nations.

-Hypersonic weapons are expected to fire from Zumwalt-class warships by 2027, a development intended to match existing Chinese threats and enable a paradigm-changing high-speed weapon to fire from the deck of a US Navy destroyer. 

Zumwalt-Class: The Navy’s Hypersonic Warrior? 

The US Navy’s Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) weapon has been under development for several years now, and the service plans to arm its fleet of Zumwalt-class destroyers with the weapon within the next few years and launch hypersonic projectiles from undersea submarines by 2029.

The weapon consists of a two-stage solid rocket motor booster designed to pinpoint enemy ground formations, track and destroy enemy air defenses, and even strike fixed infrastructure or ships at sea. 

The advantages are clear, as hypersonic weapons bring paradigm-changing speed levels to any kind of missile attack, as they are intended to target, strike, and destroy an enemy target faster than an enemy can respond.  

When faced with an incoming projectile traveling at more than 6 times the speed of sound, enemy commanders may be unable to identify the threat and decide which defense or countermeasure is optimal for a given attack.

CPS Common Glide Body

What weapons platform the Zumwalt-class will get matters, and it could be a true game changer. 

The core of the CPS weapon consists of a Common Glide Body, which is used in both the Navy’s sea-launched CPS and the Army’s ground-launched Long Range Hypersonic Weapon. 

While each service’s variant and integration of the Common Glide Body is tailored to its particular mission, standard parts, and common components are designed to streamline production for both services.  

The weapon is progressing well, as the Pentagon announced a successful Army-Navy all-up-round Common Glide Body test in June 2024.  

The test was highly anticipated, as the CPS has encountered some testing delays. 

Both Army and Navy hypersonic weapons variants have encountered growing pains in developmental development, yet the services are already thinking about the future of the weapon. 

Army and Navy engineers are now working on software upgrades to hypersonic missile systems, called “tech insertions,” which will soon enable hypersonic weapons to adapt course in flight and destroy moving targets. 

A key goal of the CPS effort is to close the gap with China. Senior US weapons developers have for years now publicly said that the US is number “3” behind Russia and China in the race to deploy hypersonic weapons.

Russia has already test-fired its famous Tsirkon weapon and recently unveiled its Oreshnik. The People’s Liberation Army Navy has fired its YJ-21 hypersonic missile from the deck of its warships. 

Chinese newspapers now say the service can arm its H-6 bombers with an air-launched variant of the hypersonic YJ-21. 

Chinese Hypersonics Strategy

This threat scenario is part of why the Pentagon has been fast-tracking and accelerating its hypersonic weapons development effort. Specifically, many Pentagon leaders have expressed concern that China might use its hypersonic weapons advantage to effectively “deny” US Naval forces from operating within range of defending Taiwan. 

In effect, the Chinese could seek to establish a hypersonic protective bubble around Taiwan, preventing any defending forces from entering close enough to protect the island. 

This scenario is often explicitly cited as one of many reasons why the US needs to massively fast-track the deployment of its hypersonic weapons. 

Clearly, the faster the Zumwalt-Class can get hypersonic weapons, the better. 

About the Author: Kris Osborn 

Kris Osborn is the Military Affairs Editor of 19FortyFive and President of Warrior Maven – Center for Military Modernization. Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a highly qualified expert in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army—Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel. He also has a Masters Degree in Comparative Literature from Columbia University.