Testing Points To Relevance Of Hyper Velocity Projectile For Zumwalt Destroyer's Dormant Guns
A version of the Zumwalt's beleaguered Advanced Gun System deck shot down a cruise missile with Hyper Velocity Projectile during a major land test.
By Thomas Newdick and Tyler RogowaySeptember 17, 2020
After the successful destruction of a cruise missile by a Hyper Velocity Projectile in a land-based test, the case for the U.S. Navy’s stealthy Zumwalt-class destroyers adopting the fast-flying ammunition has strengthened. These warships are arguably the Navy's most advanced and survivable, but also its most controversial — you can read more about them here — but their main guns, which take up the entire forward third of the 16,000-ton displacement vessels, lie dormant.
During the recent trial, an Advanced Gun System (AGS) mounted on an M110 8-inch self-propelled Howitzer fired a Hyper Velocity Projectile (HVP) that downed a cruise missile target over the White Sands Missile Range. It was part of the U.S. Air Force’s Advanced Battle Management Systems (ABMS) test that ran from August 31 to September 4, 2020. You can read more about this major multi-faceted series of trials in this past piece of ours.
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/36504/testing-points-to-relevance-of-hyper-velocity-projectile-for-zumwalt-destroyers-dormant-guns
