The U.S. Department of Defense has launched a modernization strategy for “hypersonic weapons” to counter the Chinese Communist threat. U.S. Secretary of Naval Operations Mike Gilday recently revealed that the Zumwalt-class destroyers, with their powerful stealth capabilities, will be the first to be equipped with hypersonic missiles, which will greatly increase their combat capabilities.
The Liberty Times reported that U.S. Navy Secretary of Operations Gilday recently revealed at an event at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA) that the Zumwalt-class destroyers intend to remove one or two 155mm advanced gun systems and replace them with hypersonic missiles, with each destroyer carrying up to 16 of them. Hypersonic glide body (C-HGB).
A hypersonic weapon is a weapon system that travels at nearly or more than five times the speed of sound. Hypersonic missiles are highly maneuverable and can fly at a variety of altitudes and orientations, and they can strike a variety of targets hundreds or even thousands of miles away in less than 10 minutes.
James Weber, a senior scientist at the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory for hypersonics, said the Defense Department has spent about $1.7 billion on hypersonic weapons development over the past 25 years.
Initially, the U.S. Navy intended to prioritize the deployment of hypersonic missiles on the Virginia-class nuclear-powered attack submarines. But now the Zumwalt-class destroyers are “in line” to be the first to mount hypersonic missiles.
Gildy said the Zumwalt-class destroyers in 2025 will be the “first” to be equipped with a maximum rate of Mach 17 (about 20,000 km/h) hypersonic missiles, mounted to effectively hit targets within more than 8,000 km, the combat power will be greatly increased.
The Jowat-class destroyer will thus be transformed into a maritime strike platform, which is an important milestone, Gildy said.
At present, the Chinese Communist Party is constantly provoking in the South China Sea, Taiwan Sea and East China Sea, and it has become the top military confrontation target of the United States. The U.S. Navy’s plan to equip its ships with hypersonic missiles will undoubtedly be a major deterrent to the Chinese Communist Party.
The U.S. Department of Defense has recently proposed a modernization strategy for hypersonic weapons to counter the threat of the Chinese Communist Party. Voice of America reported on Feb. 28 that Michael E. White, the Pentagon’s hypersonic weapons chief, said the U.S. military is implementing a comprehensive “layered defeat” strategy, with plans to deploy air-, ground- and sea-launched hypersonic conventional strike weapons.
The U.S. military is also considering loading hypersonic weapons on B-1B heavy long-range strategic bombers, with up to 31 ARRW hypersonic missiles on a single B-1B bomber.
We will deliver strike capabilities and multi-layered hypersonic defense capabilities to the warfighter in the early and mid-2020s,” White said. In the mid- to late-2020s the terminal phase will begin first and then the glide phase. For reusable systems, our goal is to submit that capability in the mid-2030s.”
Brig. Gen. Heath A. Collins, of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at the U.S. Air Force Equipment Command, said his organization is developing a rapid prototype program for the AGM-183A air-launched rapid response weapon, advancing glide development of a hypersonic weapon, and will be ready to implement the first booster experiment next week.
He said, “Our program is simultaneously preparing to transition to production in about a year, so it will be the Air Force’s first air-launched hypersonic weapon.”
In March 2020, the U.S. Army successfully tested an unarmed hypersonic missile prototype that flew at more than five times the speed of sound and landed at a designated impact point. The U.S. military aims to have hypersonic weapons in combat by the mid-2020s.
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