The USS Zumwalt (DDG-1000) guided missile destroyer arrived at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula on 19 August 2023, Mississippi, to begin significant modernization: hypersonic missile tubes that will radically change the ship’s mission profile.
The Navy says the upgrades for the USS Zumwalt will include integrating the Conventional Prompt Strike, or CPS, weapon system. “These upgrades will help ensure Zumwalt remains one of the most technologically advanced and lethal ships in the U.S. Navy,” the Navy said in the statement.
The 16,000-ton warship left San Diego earlier this month and will see its twin 155 mm Advanced Gun Systems replaced with four 87-inch missile tubes. Hypersonic missiles are advanced weapons in development since 2020 through the collaboration of the United States with their Common Hypersonic Glide Bodies. The Army and Navy are part of a larger Department of Defense push for a variety of conventional prompt strike platforms capable of striking globally against a target with virtually no warning.
Kari Wilkinson, president of Ingalls Shipbuilding, welcomed the crew and families of Zumwalt, speaking to the honor of working for the Navy and doing such critical work for them.
What’s more, the strategic pivot of the Navy for the Zumwalt class of destroyers—from littoral combatant to blue-water vessel—is decoded. It will be added upon, with hypersonic weapons, illuminating the changing priorities of the military. The Zumwalt was originally intended to help soldiers on the ground with its firepower, by firing the LRLAP—or Long-Range Land Attack Projectile. However, the class was first cut from an initial quantity of 30 to three ships, which resulted in the cost of the rounds becoming prohibitively expensive, so the mission and armament of the ship were reconsidered.
He called the program very urgent “because the intent here is by 2025 to have this hypersonic system on a Zumwalt-class destroyer.” However, the Government Accountability Office had already highlighted that there could be delays in the program, as “the Navy seems to recognize that significant integration challenges remain for a program that will first introduce the CPS to a weapon system.
The Navy plans in coming years to modernize USS Michael Monsoor (DDG-1001) and the next three ships of the class. Michael Monsoor is home ported in San Diego while USS Lyndon B. Johnson is undergoing combat system installation and activation at Ingalls.
It is a critical step toward the modernization of the Navy in the light of staying ahead in terms of technology and developing its strategic strike power. With hypersonic features, these missiles can travel at dizzying speeds and maneuver, thus providing many teeth to the U.S. military arsenal in relation to adversaries.
A $154.8 million contract for hypersonic missile upgrades on the Zumwalt, awarded in November, has been anticipated as completed in September 2025. An earlier $10.5 million planning contract was issued this year for similar work on the Michael Monsoor.
As the Navy pushes forward with implementing these improvements, the Zumwalt-class destroyers shall become the center focus of future naval operations, using advanced technology to meet rising challenges while staying strategically ahead on the world stage.