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.
“In March 2020, the CPS/LRHW teams completed a successful flight test that demonstrated that CHGB technology is mature and can provide desired warfighting capability. The joint services have also conducted numerous static fire tests of the first and second stage Solid Rocket Motors (SRM), which make up the common missile booster stack that supports both CPS and LRHW,” Wolfe told Congress.
UnderSea Test Center
The new undersea testing center is making progress moving toward an eventual undersea hypersonic attack and the service has also conducted successful simulations of Zumwalt-fired surface hypersonic launch by deploying a “prototype Weapon Control System and missile simulator,” Wolfe said.
Chinese Hypersonic Weapons Progress
Progress could not come soon enough for the US Navy, given that Senior Intelligence Analyst Jeffrey McCormick from the National Air and Space Intelligence Center told the same Congressional subcommittee last year that the US is indeed “behind” China in the realm of hypersonic weapons. McCormick cited findings from a 2024 Hypersonic Threat Assessment by the Defense Intelligence Agency which cited China’s DF-17 Hypersonic missile and the PRC’s “robust research and development infrastructure and testing.” The text of the report says China operates a very high number of “wind-tunnels” and test infrastructure sufficient to accelerate hypersonic weapons development. The DF-17, according to the report, deployed in 2020 and operates with a range of 1,600km, a range which clearly places US Navy assets and platforms in the Pacific at risk.
China’s People Liberation Army – Navy has also on several occasions published video of a deck-launch of its YJ-21 hypersonic missile from the deck of its Type 055 Destroyers. Interestingly, in a move which has slipped beneath the global radar, China’s Global Times newspaper reported that an air-launched variant of the hypersonic YJ-21 was deployed on its HK6 bomber.
“The H-6K bomber is capable of carrying a wide variety of munitions including the KD-20 land attack missile, the YJ-12 supersonic anti-ship missile and the YJ-21 hypersonic missile,” the Chinese government-backed Global Times reported last year.
The exact capabilities of weapons performance parameters associated with China’s hypersonic arsenal may not be fully known, yet the concern that they are ahead of the Pentagon continues to generate very serious concern. For instance, this was a key reason why members of Congress specifically inquired as to whether the US military services were operating with sufficient test equipment, ranges and technology.
“This subcommittee would be very interested to hear your assessment of whether the test infrastructure adequately meets your needs to test with the cadence required to meet your programs objectives,” Rep. Doug Lamborn R-Colo told military leaders.
