Navy moves closer to installing hypersonic missile launchers aboard stealthy Zumwalt-class destroyers
BATH, Maine – U.S. Navy surface warship experts are taking another step toward installing hypersonic missile launchers aboard the Navy's three stealthy Zumwalt-class destroyers to enable these vessels to attack enemy valuable mobile targets.
Officials of the Navy Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Conversion, and Repair in Bath, Maine, announced a $22.9 million order Wednesday to General Dynamics Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine, for long-lead items for the Large Missile Vertical Launch System (LMVLS) launch module fabrication for the USS Michael Monsoor (DDG 1001).
The LMVLS launcher will enable the three Zumwalt-class destroyers to launch the future Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) hypersonic missile. Long-lead items either are difficult and time-consuming to obtain, and are funded early in design to keep overall production on schedule.
The Navy awarded a $20 million long-lead-items order to Bath Iron Works in August 2022 for the LMVLS launcher for the USS Zumwalt (DDG 1000), and a $19.7 million long-lead-items order to Bath Iron Works in October 2022 for the LMVLS launcher for the USS Lyndon B. Johnson (DDG 1002).
LMVLS launchers are to replace or augment the Advanced Gun Systems (AGS) aboard the Zumwalt, Monsoor, and Johnson. The AGS was to provide the ships with long-range naval gunfire against shore-based targets, but the Navy scrapped the AGS program in 2016 because of its high costs.
The three Zumwalt-class destroyers each were equipped with two AGS guns, which have started to be removed. It's not clear if the Navy will swap-out LMVLS launchers for all the AGS systems, or leave each ship with one AGS and one LMVLS launcher.
The LMVLS launchers will shoot the CPS -- a conventional boost-glide hypersonic missile with a two stage solid rocket motor, a hypersonic glide body, and kinetic-energy warhead. A hypersonic projectile travels at speeds of at least five times the speed of sound, or about 3,800 miles per hour. The Lockheed Martin Space is the CPS prime systems integrator.
A hypersonic missile traveling at Mach 5 or faster doesn't need an explosive warhead; its kinetic energy alone is sufficient to destroy or disable nearly any target it hits.
Military leaders say they plan to launch CPS not only from Zumwalt-class destroyers, but also from special vertical launch systems aboard Virginia-class attack submarines. First deployment of the CPS is scheduled for as early as 2028 aboard Virginia-class submarines.
On this order Bath Iron Works will do the work in Spring Grove, Ill.; Houston; Alma and Merrill, Mich., and should be finished by April 2026. For more information contact General Dynamics Bath Iron Works online at https://gdbiw.com, or the Navy Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Conversion, and Repair-Bath, Maine, at www.navsea.navy.mil/Home/SUPSHIP/Bath.
John Keller | Editor-in-Chief
John Keller is the Editor-in-Chief, Military & Aerospace Electronics Magazine--provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronics and optoelectronic technologies in military, space and commercial aviation applications. John has been a member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since 1989 and chief editor since 1995.
