The Zumwalt-class destroyers were in themselves a show-stopper at the initial stages, initially with their missile-profile shapes and subsequently with the ideas behind them. But today, the recent years, the ships have been outfitted that can transform naval warfare in the next decade or so. With the addition of the hypersonic missile capability, i.e., Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) and Intermediate-Range Conventional Prompt Strike (IRCPS), the Navy is making these ships among the technologically advanced surface warships of the high seas.
Initially designed as multi-mission ships, the Zumwalts will have 155mm Advanced Gun Systems (AGS) for long-range shore bombardment, among others, and stealth and higher-order sensors. The program was redirected to a different path when it was discovered that the Long-Range Land Attack Projectiles (LRLAP) were too expensive to mass-produce large guns into unaffordability. That window provided for a complete overhaul of what these ships would have to accomplish.
By 2023, the forward AGS turret and state-of-the-art below-deck sub-subsystems were scrapped. In their place, four gigantic vertical launch system (VLS) tubes, each having a diameter of 87 inches, were installed by the engineers. Tubes are designed to hold Advanced Payload Module canisters, three hypersonic missiles apiece, for one vessel to carry up to 12 speed devils.
It wasn’t easy to produce the Zumwalts. Bulkheads were reinforced, support added, and systems reworked to withstand the stress and heat transferred from firing hypersonic missiles. So why is it so revolutionary?
Hypersonic missiles operate above Mach 5 and are capable of flight maneuvers and, as such, are very hard to detect and intercept. Testing proved that the missile was able to strike time-sensitive, well-defended targets with over 1,000 nautical miles of accuracy.
Essentially, what that means is a Zumwalt can shoot deep into contested space and be out of range for all but the most advanced sensors. The velocity and maneuverability of such missiles provide the vessel with a massive strategic advantage: attackers are in no position to react, intercept becomes discombobulated, and strategic objectives are destroyed before they even realize that they are under attack. Hypersonic missiles, unlike cruise or ballistic missiles, which follow a linear, predictable route, can change direction rapidly and navigate through multi-layer defense systems easily.
The system is actually a cooperation of the Navy and Army since both are using the same missile to avoid wasting time and money. The Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon or Dark Eagle of the Army, and the CPS/IRCPS of the Navy are identical missiles where simultaneous development and testing is simultaneously being conducted.
The Navy officials say that cooperation must be guaranteed so that the weapons can be pressed into the battlefield without wasting technological leverage.
In the shadows, decades of research at facilities such as the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division made it all possible. There, scientists have decades of conceptual ideas for hypervelocity guns to state-of-the-art guidance systems, and today’s materials record velocity-capable. Their role is simple: equipping sailors with the finest it has to offer and positioning the Navy on offense and defense cutting edges.
Strategically, it is a wholesale rethinking of the Zumwalt-class. Once-expensive, dubious experiment, now seems to be the Navy’s finest long-range precision strike vessel. Stealth, sensor nodes, and hypersonic range enable these ships to penetrate high-value targets deep in denied space and become the bedrock of deterrence in the most adverse environments.
With the Navy set to use live-fire training and eventually deploy these hypersonic missiles, it’s going to be a new era of naval warfare in the works. Couple that with low observability, top-of-the-line detection equipment, and undetectable speed of attack, and it promises Zumwalt-class destroyers to be a pinnacle of naval power for many years to come.