The U.S. Navy is transforming a costly flub into a potent weapon with the first shipborne hypersonic weapon, which is being retrofitted aboard the first of its three stealthy destroyers.
The USS Zumwalt is at a Mississippi shipyard where workers have installed missile tubes that replace twin turrets from a gun system that was never activated because it was too expensive. Once the system is complete, the Zumwalt will provide a platform for conducting fast, precision strikes from greater distances, adding to the usefulness of the warship.
"It was a costly blunder but the Navy could take victory from the jaws of defeat here, and get some utility out of them by making them into a hypersonic platform," said Bryan Clark, a defense analyst at the Hudson Institute.
The U.S. has had several types of hypersonic weapons in development for the past two decades, but recent tests by both Russia and China have added pressure to the U.S. military to hasten their production.
Hypersonic weapons travel beyond Mach 5, five times the speed of sound, with added maneuverability making them harder to shoot down.
Last year, The Washington Post reported that among documents leaked by former Massachusetts Air National Guard member Jack Teixeira was a defense department briefing confirming China had recently tested an intermediate-range hypersonic weapon called the DF-27. While the Pentagon had previously acknowledged this weapon's development, it had not recognized its testing.
One of the U.S. programs in development and planned for the Zumwalt is "Conventional Prompt Strike." It would launch like a ballistic missile and then release a hypersonic glide vehicle traveling at speeds seven to eight times faster than sound before hitting its target. This weapon system is being developed jointly by the Navy and Army. Each Zumwalt-class destroyer would be equipped with four missile tubes, each containing three missiles for 12 hypersonic weapons per ship.
In choosing the Zumwalt, the Navy aims to add value to this $7.5 billion warship considered an expensive mistake despite serving as a test platform for multiple innovations.
"This particular missile costs more than a dozen tanks. All it gets you is a precise non-nuclear explosion somewhere far away. Is it really worth it? Most of time it costs more than any target you can destroy with it," said Loren Thompson, military analyst in Washington D.C.
"The adversary has them. We never want to be outdone," said retired Navy Rear Adm. Ray Spicer about pursuing these capabilities despite their cost.
"Fielding new capabilities based on hypersonic technologies is priority for defense department to sustain our integrated deterrence," stated James Weber from Office Assistant Secretary Defense Critical Technologies."