US Navy 2 years behind on hypersonic missile installation on Zumwalt destroyers
By Michael Peck
Jul 17, 2026, 03:45 PM
The U.S. Navy’s expensive effort to install hypersonic missiles on three Zumwalt-class destroyers is two years behind schedule, according to government auditors.
In addition to problems stemming from both the destroyers and the missiles, the Navy and Army are reportedly not coordinating work on the joint Conventional Prompt Strike missile program. Missile flight testing scheduled for 2025 has been pushed back to 2027.
“Despite recent successes testing the CPS missile, the Navy faces several programmatic challenges associated with developing, delivering, and deploying the CPS missile on the DDG-1000,” warned the Government Accountability Office report. “These challenges include rising costs, schedule delays, reliability issues with DDG-1000 class destroyers, and CPS production challenges, among other things.”
In search of a mission for the DDG-1000 after escalating costs and capability concerns resulted in the program being cut from 32 ships to just three, the Navy decided in 2022 to arm the Zumwalts with CPS boost-glide hypersonic missiles. CPS uses a two-stage booster to loft a high-altitude glider that can hit a target thousands of miles away in 30 minutes or less.
https://www.defensenews.com/industry/techwatch/2026/07/17/us-navy-2-years-behind-on-hypersonic-missile-installation-on-zumwalt-destroyers/
