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The US Navy is turning a costly setback into a strategic advantage by retrofitting its first stealth destroyer, the USS Zumwalt, to house the nation’s first shipborne hypersonic weapon.
At a Mississippi shipyard, workers are replacing the Zumwalt's twin turrets—originally designed for a gun system that was never activated due to its high cost—with new missile tubes, reports AP.
This modification will transform the Zumwalt into a platform capable of conducting fast, long-range, precision strikes, enhancing its operational utility.
While the Zumwalt was initially intended for land-attack missions with its Advanced Gun System, the expensive gun system was scrapped and the ship's future became uncertain.
However, experts see this new retrofit as a potential turning point. "The Navy could take victory from the jaws of defeat here and make these ships useful with the hypersonic weapon system," said Bryan Clark, a defense analyst at the Hudson Institute.
Hypersonic weapons, capable of travelling at speeds greater than Mach 5 (five times the speed of sound), have become a priority for the US military, spurred on by tests from China and Russia.
These weapons' high speed and manoeuvrability make them difficult to intercept, and the US has accelerated their development to maintain its technological edge.
The system being integrated into the Zumwalt is the Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS), a hypersonic weapon that launches like a ballistic missile before releasing a glide vehicle that travels at speeds seven to eight times the speed of sound.
The Zumwalt will carry four missile tubes, each containing three hypersonic missiles, for a total of 12 weapons per ship.
Despite criticisms of the Zumwalt class as an expensive misstep, the destroyers remain the Navy's most advanced surface warships, featuring innovations such as electric propulsion and a stealthy angular design.
The Zumwalt is currently undergoing retrofit work at Huntington Ingalls Industries shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi, and is expected to return to active duty in the coming months.
While the development and procurement of these hypersonic weapons will cost billions, with an estimated price tag of $18 billion for 300 missiles, experts argue that the strategic advantages outweigh the cost.
“The adversary has them. We never want to be outdone,” said retired Navy Rear Admiral Ray Spicer, underscoring the urgency of the US military’s pursuit of hypersonic technology.