US Navy Starts Arming Its Zumwalt Destroyers With Ship-Launched Hypersonic Weapons
The Navy will spend several years integrating the hypersonic Conventional Prompt Strike weapon onto the Zumwalts
KRIS OSBORN, WARRIOR MAVEN - CENTER FOR MILITARY MODERNIZATIONAUG 30, 2023
By Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization
Attacking hundreds of miles away faster than the speed of sound with a high-speed Hypersonic Glide Body warhead is the key function of the US Navy’s now emerging ship-launched hypersonic missile.
The US Navy is now taking large steps to arm its stealthy, high-tech Zumwalt-class destroyers with hypersonic weapons, a development expected to introduce new attack tactics, concepts of operation and high-speed attack.
The service will spend several years integrating the hypersonic Conventional Prompt Strike weapon onto the Zumwalts, a missile expected to travel at hypersonic speeds across dispersed, high-threat formations. The construction and integration is now already underway through a deal between the US Navy and HII aimed at integrating and activating the CPS onto ship. This is quite a technological process, as the high-tech ship likely needs to be adjusted with new launch and fire-control technology sufficient to support hypersonic attack. The weapons are expected to be operational on the Zumwalts by 2025.
It would make sense that the CPS would first integrate onto the Zumwalt destroyers, as they are powered by an Integrated Power System electrical drive capable of generating massive amounts of electrical power across the ship. The Zumwalts are also built with advanced technology called a “Total Computing Environment,” an elaborate, ship-wide computer processing infrastructure built with millions of lines of computer code. Having powerful and efficient sources of electrical power, combined with high-speed computing is likely to expedite and improve the integration of the CPS onto the ship by enabling improved power, propulsion and fire control.
https://warriormaven.com/sea/us-navy-starts-arming-its-zumwalt-destroyers-with-ship-launched-hypersonic-weapons
