Navy Tests Submarine-Launched Hypersonic Missiles for 2028

By Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization

Lurking beneath the highly visible and often discussed US Navy effort to fire Conventional Prompt Strike hypersonic missiles from the deck of Zumwalt-class destroyers, the service is also taking specific steps to launch hypersonic weapons from beneath the sea by 2028 or sooner.

The tactical advantage of an ability to initiate hypersonic attack from undersea cannot be overstated as it increases the possibility of surprise, closer-in-clandestine land attack and maneuvering strikes on surface ships from less detectable launch positions. As is known with hypersonics, an ability to attack at more than 5-times the speed of sound from stand-off distances using precision-guided maneuverable munitions introduces paradigm-changing tactical advantages, so an ability to accomplish this from hidden or more stealthy undersea positions exponentially magnifies this advantage.

Following initial surface deployment on Zumwalt destroyers, CPS will fire from Block V Virginia-class attack submarines from the now-emerging Virginia Payload Modules being built into the boats.

The Virginia Payload Modules represent an intense and ambitious multi-year Navy effort to better arm its undersea attack fleet following the anticipated retirement of the massively armed “guided missile” SSGN Ohio-class submarines able to fire 154 Tomahawks per boat. The expected loss of conventional firepower associated with the retirement of the Navy’s four SSGNs has inspired an ongoing multi-year effort to add an 80-ft “section” to Virginia class submarines enabling the boats to carry 28 additional Tomahawk missiles. With the added VPMs, Virginia-class firepower capacity jumps from 12 missile silos to 40, a large-scale increase in attack options for undersea commanders.

Now, the Navy is implementing adjustments and engineering changes to enable those missile tubes to launch hypersonic missiles beneath the surface of the ocean, a task which requires new propulsion and launch technology. Tests are underway, according to previous Congressional testimony from Vice Admiral Johnny Wolfe, USN Director, Strategic Systems Programs.

“To prepare for the underwater use of the CPS launcher, we are also building an Underwater Test Facility at NSWC Crane, Indiana. This facility will conduct submerged tests to ensure we understand how the missile flies through the water to support fielding CPS capability from Virginia Payload Module equipped Block V VIRGINIA Class submarines,” Wolfe told lawmakers in testimony last year before the Tactical Air and Land Forces Subcommittee, House Armed Services Committee.

The developmental pace and measurable progress associated with the Navy’s surface and undersea CPS and its Common Hypersonic Glide Body collaborative warhead effort with the Army can easily be overlooked or “missed” amid vast amounts of attention being paid to overall delays and technical challenges associated with hypersonics weapons development. For several years now, the Army and Navy have been collaborating to engineer a single “all-up round” which can be adjusted to fire from both the Army’s Long Range Hypersonic Weapon and the Navy’s Prompt Conventional Strike System.