Zumwalts’ New Teeth May Actually Work
The bright shining promise of the Zumwalt-class DDGs– the largest and most expensive class of destroyers ever built for the U.S. Navy– was in their pair of 155 mm/62 (6.1-inch) Mark 51 Advanced Gun Systems carried forward.
The talisman that allowed the Navy to finally retire the battleships and scuttle the 31 still-young Spruance class destroyers (each with proven twin 5″/45s), the AGS had the mythical ability to fire as many as 10 rounds per minute, per mount, to a range of 83 nmi through the use of an un-fielded Long Range Land Attack Projectile.
AGS would have been beautiful.
However, due largely to the fact that 32 Zumwalts were planned, each with two mounts, but only three hulls ever built, the AGS shrank from nearly 100 mounts including spares and test guns to single digits. This unsustainable program was, essentially, stillborn.
Now, with the Zumwalts only armed with 80 Mk 57 peripheral VLS cells and a pair of 30mm Mk 46 mounts (paltry for a 16,000 ton ship of any type) the Navy has been sending the class to Ingalls in Pascagoula to land their inoperable 6.1-inch guns in exchange for four Advanced Payload Modules (APMs), each holding three Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) hypersonic missiles. In short, swapping two guns that don’t work for a dozen huge and unstoppably fast (that’s the plan, anyway) missiles.
The rub is that CPS isn’t a thing yet either, but the Navy at least now has vetted the concept of launching these big birds from a surface warship without melting its upper decks via the concept of a cold-gas launch.
U.S. Navy Strategic Systems Programs conducts a cold-gas launch of a conventional hypersonic missile on the path to Navy fielding in Cape Canaveral, Fla. This test informs the Navy fielding approach for the Conventional Prompt Strike offensive hypersonic capability, as well as the continued development and production of the common hypersonic missile that is being developed in partnership with the U.S. Army. (U.S. Navy Photo 250502-D-D0439-1234)
The U.S. Navy’s Strategic Systems Programs is continuing on the path toward the nation’s first sea-based hypersonic fielding with a successful end-to-end flight test of a conventional hypersonic missile from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. This test marked the first launch of the Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) capability utilizing the Navy’s cold-gas launch approach that will be used in Navy sea-based platform fielding.
“The speed, range, and survivability of hypersonic weapons are key to integrated deterrence for America,” Secretary of the Navy John Phelan said. “When fielded, Conventional Prompt Strike will deliver unmatched capabilities to our warfighters.”
This test was the next step in the Navy’s flight testing program of the common All Up Round (AUR) that is being developed in partnership with the Army’s Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office. In 2024, the programs completed two additional end-to-end flight tests of the AUR that will be fielded to both the Navy and Army.
“The cold-gas approach allows the Navy to eject the missile from the platform and achieve a safe distance above the ship prior to first-stage ignition. This technical achievement brings SSP one step closer to fulfilling our role of providing a safe and reliable hypersonic capability to our Navy,” said Vice Adm. Johnny R. Wolfe Jr, Director, Navy’s Strategic Systems Programs, which is the lead designer of the common hypersonic missile.