The US Navy is turning an expensive flub into a powerful weapon with its first hypersonic weapon ship, which is being rolled back into the first of its three destroyers.
The USS Zumwalt is at the Mississippi shipyard where crews have installed twin tube replacements from a gun system that was never built because it was too expensive. When the system is complete, the Zumwalt will provide a platform for fast, accurate strikes from long distances, increasing the effectiveness of the warship.
“It was a costly mistake but the Navy could take a victory from the jaws of defeat here, and get more resources out of it by doing them in a hypersonic arena,” said Bryan Clark, a defense researcher at the Hudson Institute.
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The US has had several types of hypersonic weapons in development for the past two decades, but recent tests by Russia and China have increased pressure on the US military to accelerate development.
Hypersonic weapons travel more than Mach 5, five times the speed of sound, with increased maneuverability making them harder to shoot.
Last year, The Washington Post reported that among the documents released by a former member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, Jack Teixeira, was a defense department that confirmed that China had recently tested a medium-range hypersonic weapon called the DF-27. While the Pentagon had previously acknowledged the development of the weapon, it had not been aware of its testing.
One of the US plans in development and planned for Zumwalt is the “Conventional Prompt Strike.” It would launch like a cannonball and then release a hypersonic glide vehicle that would travel seven to eight times faster than the speed of sound before impact. the weapons system is being developed jointly by the Navy and the Army. a total of 12 hypersonic weapons per ship.
In choosing Zumwalt, the Navy is trying to add to the value of the $7.5 billion warship that critics see as a costly mistake despite serving as a test platform for many new ones.
The Zumwalt was envisioned as providing ground attack power with an Advanced Gun System with rocket-assisted projectiles to pave the way for Marines to charge ashore. But the system, which has 155 guns hidden in intelligence, was canceled because each of the rocket-assisted projectiles costs between $890,000.
Despite the tarnish on its reputation, the three Zumwalt-class destroyers remain the Navy’s most advanced warship in terms of new technology. The innovations include electronic transmission, an angular shape to reduce the radar signal, unusual-piercing hull, automated fire and damage control and a composite deckhouse that hides radar and other sensors.
The Zumwalt arrived at the Huntington Ingalls Industries shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi, in August 2023 and was removed from the water for the difficult task of integrating the new weapons system. It should be reopened this week in preparation for the next round of tests and return to the ship, ship spokeswoman Kimberly Aguillard said.
A US hypersonic missile was successfully tested this summer and development of the missiles is underway. The Navy wants to begin testing the system in the Zumwalt in 2027 or 2028, according to the Navy.
The US weapon system will come at a high price. It costs $18 billion to buy 300 weapons and maintain them over 20 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
Critics say there is too little money.
“This weapon costs more than 12 tanks. All it gets you is a real non-nuclear explosion, somewhere far away. Is it really worth the money? The answer is many times the missile is more expensive than any target you can destroy,” said Loren Thompson, a longtime military analyst in Washington, DC.
But they provide the ability of Navy ships to strike the enemy from thousands of kilometers away – regardless of the type of enemy weapons – and there is no effective defense against them, said retired Navy Rear Adm. Ray Spicer, CEO of the US. Naval Institute, think tank, and former commander of an aircraft carrier.
Less expensive conventional weapons aren’t much of a bargain if they can’t reach their target, Spicer said, adding that the US military has no choice but to go after them.
“The enemy has it. We never want to be crossed,” he said.
The US is promoting the development because hypersonics have been deemed essential to US national security with “survival and lethal capabilities,” said James Weber, senior director of hypersonics in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Critical Technologies.
“Developing new capabilities based on hypersonic technology is a key element for the Department of Defense to maintain and strengthen our collective defense, and build resilience,” he said.