Congress urging Navy to add hypersonic missiles to issue-plagued Zumwalt class destroyers Video Above - Army Research Lab Scientists Build New Explosives By the Staff at War is Boring [https://warisboring.com/congress-urging-navy-to-add-hypersonic-missiles-to-issue-plagued-zumwalt-class-destroyers/] CONGRESS URGING NAVY TO ADD HYPERSONIC MISSILES TO ISSUE-PLAGUED ZUMWALT CLASS DESTROYERS Congress has urged the US Navy to begin the process of arming the futuristic and issue-plagued Zumwalt class destroyers with hypersonic cruise missiles, possibly as a way to justify the costs of development and delays associated with the vessels. The new Conventional Prompt Strike hypersonic missile, which are intended for the upcoming Block V Virginia class submarines and the Ohio class sub fleet, may also be pushed into the Zumwalt line as well- at least if the US House of Representatives has their way. According to The Drive [https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/34255/congress-pushes-navy-to-add-hypersonic-missiles-to-its-stealthy-destroyers], The House Armed Services Committee’s Strategic Forces Subcommittee wants to include the provision to add the Conventional Prompt Strike missiles to the Zumwalt’s armaments, and has made such a request official in the FY2021 NDAA. “The Secretary [of the Navy] shall initiate such transfer of [Conventional Prompt Strike] technologies to DDG–1000 [Zumwalt] class destroyers by not later than January 1, 2021,” the document read. The Zumwalt line has been “nerfed” in recent years following a troubled history of development and construction, including adding external accessories that create a larger radar signature. Resembling a floating homage to brutalist architecture, the Navy originally planned to buy dozens of Zumwalt-class ships, but have since whittled the number down to three. Should the Zumwalt be tweaked with new hypersonic missiles and better radar cross-section-shrinking technologies, the ship may redeem itself in future conflicts by providing a stealthy platform than can sneak in and launch missiles in critical locations that might otherwise be a suicide mission for conventional surface vessels.
