Navy Aims to Fire Hypersonic Weapons From USS Zumwalt-class Destroyers

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By Kris Osborn – President & Editor-In-Chief, Warrior Maven

Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Gilday says the service has used lasers to intercept ballistic missiles and doubled its investment in hypersonic weapons to support specific plans of great tactical and strategic significance… the ability to fire a hypersonic weapon from the stealthy, Zumwalt-class destroyers and the capacity to incinerate incoming ballistic missiles by firing deck-mounted laser systems miles up into the atmosphere.

Hypersonic Weapons

“The Army is fielding a hypersonic weapon in 2023 and the Navy in 2025. We are spending $21 billion in R&D for hypersonics. The other is directed energy and a high-powered microwave. This is not a missile-on-missile. We are working with industry to bring those capabilities to the fleet,” Gilday told the House Appropriations Committee – Defense.

The Navy has in recent years been working with the Missile Defense Agency on the “power scaling” of laser systems with the specific aim of increasing offensive and defensive capacity at much longer ranges and with much greater degrees of power. This means configuring expeditionary electrical power with the “scaling” of multiple laser beams to engineer new dimensions of power into ship-fired laser capability. This continues to be promising, to the point wherein high-powered lasers could soon achieve the ability to perform missile defense missions just beneath or even above the boundary of the earth’s atmosphere.

“We have used lasers against ballistic missiles through successful tests at China Lake of land-based prototypes. This makes our ships more survivable,” Gilday told the Subcommittee.

Gilday’s comment about the Army’s Long Range Hypersonic Weapon slated to arrive next year, likely referred to the ongoing collaborative Army-Navy effort to develop a common Hypersonic Glide Body. While each service will use the projectile differently in terms of application, they are being engineered within a common foundation. The Navy weapon, called Conventional Prompt Strike, has conducted a breakthrough “shot” test with the Army’s Long Range Hypersonic Weapon using the Common Hypersonic Glide Body.