Maine-built destroyer to be first US warship fitted with hypersonic missiles
The Tub Iron Works-built destroyer USS Zumwalt has arrived at a shipyard in Mississippi the place it would turn out to be the primary American warship outfitted with hypersonic missiles, new weapons which might be extraordinarily onerous to defend towards.
Protection analysts say it’s tough to foretell the flight path of those long-range missiles, that are additionally extremely maneuverable and able to touring upwards of 5 instances the velocity of sound.
China claims that it already has developed hypersonic missiles that might be successfully used within the Indo-Pacific towards American plane carriers, together with the three homeported in San Diego the place the Zumwalt relies immediately.
The Zumwalt, a first-in-class stealth destroyer launched from Tub Iron Works in 2013, will likely be upgraded with Lockheed Martin hypersonics on the Huntington Ingalls Industries shipyard in Pascagoula. The Navy says discipline testing of the missiles is prone to start in 2025.
The non-nuclear weapons additionally will likely be put in on the USS Michael Monsoor, one other Tub Iron Works-built, Zumwalt-class destroyer based mostly in San Diego, in addition to Virginia-class submarines.
The hypersonics improve represents a serious mission change for Zumwalt destroyers, which had been initially designed to fireplace extra standard munitions.
Naval Base San Diego will quickly acquire a brand new Arleigh Burke-class destroyer. The USS Jack H. Lucas will likely be commissioned in Tampa, Florida, on Oct. 7, then will push on to San Diego later within the 12 months.
A few week earlier, the Independence-class littoral fight ship USS Augusta will likely be commissioned in Eastport, Maine, then will start its personal journey to San Diego, its first working base.
The LCS Jackson, whose crew was profiled by the Union-Tribune in June, was reported to be in Hawaii this week. The ship’s deployment is anticipated to finish by fall, when it returns to San Diego.
A fourth ship, the Ticonderoga-class cruiser Lake Champlain, was decommissioned in San Diego on Sept. 1. The Navy is phasing out all of its “Tico” cruisers, whose position has largely been subsumed by fashionable Burke-class destroyers.
This story initially appeared within the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Story by Gary Robbins, The San Diego Union-Tribune
