The US Navy is pushing hard for hypersonic weapons fielded on fleet ships, most notably the Zumwalt-class destroyers. On August 24, Lockheed Martin received a $315 million modification contract to develop the IR CPS intermediate-range conventional prompt strike hypersonic weapon system. The contract includes the design, development, build, and integration of equipment for missile flight test demonstrations and fielding.
This latest contract modification is part of a line of contracts that began in 2018 when SSP awarded Lockheed Martin—the prime systems integrator for both the Navy’s CPS and the Army’s LRHW systems—the contract. The CPS hypersonic missiles are being put in place of the main guns on the Zumwalt-class destroyers and are significantly going to improve their combat capability.
The lead ship of its class, USS Zumwalt, arrived at Ingalls Shipbuilding’s shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi, to begin a two-year modernization process. The upgrade will add the CPS weapon system, featuring the replacement of the ship’s twin 155mm advanced gun systems with four 87-inch missile tubes; each tube will be equipped with three Common Hypersonic Glide Body missiles, which are a common munition developed for Navy and Army hypersonic weapon programs.
The Navy plans to field the CPS on all three Zumwalt-class destroyers. The USS Michael Monsoor, DDG-1001, and the USS Lyndon B. Johnson, DDG-1002, will follow behind the USS Zumwalt. The deployment of the CPS-equipped USS Zumwalt isn’t scheduled until the fourth quarter of 2025, while the remaining ships in the class are planned for deployment in 2026 and 2027, respectively.
Capt. Tyson Young, the executive program officer for the Zumwalt Integrated Combat System, discussed changes that would need to occur technologically and in development to field the hypersonics on Zumwalt. He said a virtual control system to launch the missiles would be tested in lab environments in March, before progressing to ship-board trials. “We’re integrating an underwater weapons control system with [tactical support center] control to affect the data and message transfer to launch the missile,” Young said.
The CPS is designed to carry a non-nuclear warhead from sea- and undersea-based platforms at a range of 2,775 km. Against such hard targets as command posts, air bases, radars, missile batteries, and depository sites for large amounts of fuel or ammunition, this strategic weapon is used.
Finally, the Navy plans to integrate the CPS into Virginia-class submarines by 2028 after it has been initially integrated into the Zumwalt class of destroyers. Equipped with the VPM, each of these submarines will be able to carry up to 12 CPS missiles.
The Navy and Army are collaborating on a joint CPS that will share a common hypersonic glide body. The system is powered by two rocket boosters and provides a hypersonic glide vehicle that travels just outside the earth’s atmosphere to the target location. The Army system is known as the LRHW, or Dark Eagle, and is expected to be operational in 2023.
The integration of hypersonic weapons into the arsenal of the Navy, definitely a quantum jump in any kind of military technology, is what provides strategic leverage to the US in contemporary warfare. While the Navy is upscaling its prowess, deployment of such higher systems will remain truly perceptible in maintaining national security and deterring potential challengers.