The Zumwalt destroyers have long been a mystery within the U.S. Navy fleet. Designed as stealthy, multi-mission surface warships packed with advanced technology, they were intended to transform naval warfare. Rather, they were known for ballooned budgets, a shrinking fleet from dozens down to a paltry three ships, and a flagship cannon—the 155mm Advanced Gun System—that never quite lived up to its hype. The cutting-edge ammo was so expensive that the guns lacked effective rounds, and these Leviathan warships floated aimlessly without a clear mission.
That reputation is beginning to change, however. The Navy is putting a bold new mission on the Zumwalts: they will be the first US surface warships with hypersonic missiles. This is not a makeover—it’s a complete redesign of how the Navy exercises power, dissuades adversaries, and battles future wars at sea.
The overhauls are sweeping. The previously ubiquitous bow-mounted Advanced Gun Systems are being removed to make room for four massive launch tubes. Each is 87 inches in diameter and will be capable of triple-packing canisters—three Intermediate-Range Conventional Prompt Strike (IRCPS) hypersonic missiles per canister.
Collectively, one Zumwalt could carry up to 12 of these new-generation missiles. They require deep structural renovations to accommodate them: stripping out gun mounts anchored in the hull, structurally supporting bulkheads, and integrating new combat and fire control systems to support hypersonic strike missions.
The missiles themselves are the product of a joint program with the U.S. Army. The Navy Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) missile shares the same boost-glide vehicle as the Army Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon, named Dark Eagle.
Here’s how they accomplish it: the weapon is launched on a rocket booster, travels more than five times the speed of sound, and then jettisons a glide vehicle that does an erratic zigzag to its target. This combination of blistering velocity and maneuverability makes hypersonic missiles very difficult to detect or intercept—ideal for striking time-sensitive, high-value targets deep within contested airspace.
The rationale behind this act is clear. Hypersonic missiles cut the time to hit a target and give the launching ship a better chance to survive in heavily defended oceans. While others are developing their own hypersonic arsenals and employing advanced anti-access/area-denial systems, the ability to deliver fast, basically unstoppable strikes from a stealth platform is a huge tactical advantage. The Zumwalt’s radar-evading stealth capabilities and state-of-the-art communications make it especially suited to slipping into contested zones and delivering a knockout blow before an opponent can counterattack.
However, the road ahead is not without difficulty. The Navy’s schedule for arming the Zumwalts with hypersonic missiles has already been pushed back. Leaders have warned that the service has yet to fully establish the circumstances in which to test the weapons to determine how well they would perform in real-world, threatening environments.
With only three ships in the class, each carrying a unique set of hardware and software, maintaining and updating them will remain expensive and complex. Actions are already underway to standardize their combat and radar systems to simplify that burden.
Despite those barriers, the Navy is forging ahead in confidence. USS Zumwalt has already been deployed back out to sea after a lengthy refit with its new hypersonic launchers installed. USS Lyndon B. Johnson enters service with hypersonic capability built in from the start, and USS Michael Monsoor will be up for its own modernization later this decade. Budget projections show a strong commitment to outfitting all three ships with the weapons by the 2030s.
For decades, the Zumwalt-class destroyers were invoked to describe overreach and failed vision. But with this new role, they may at last achieve the importance that their designers envisioned. By embracing the mission of hypersonic strike capacity and altering the role of surface combatants, the Navy is betting that these distinctive warships will end up not as emblems of failed vision but as leading players in the next era of naval power.