USS Zumwalt to Return to Fleet With Hypersonic Missiles

The U.S. Navy expects to formally return the stealth destroyer USS Zumwalt (DDG-1000) to the fleet by September 2026, following a modernization that makes it the service's first surface warship configured to fire hypersonic missiles, The War Zone reported on July 17.

The overhaul replaces the ship's two 155mm Advanced Gun Systems with four large-diameter launch tubes for the Intermediate-Range Conventional Prompt Strike (IRCPS) weapon, the Navy's version of the Army's Dark Eagle. Each tube holds three rounds packed via an Advanced Payload Module canister, for up to 12 missiles per ship. IRCPS is a multi-stage boost-glide weapon: an unpowered glide vehicle separates from its booster and maneuvers to the target at hypersonic speed. Each missile costs roughly $67 million as of April 2026.

The work has run about 10 months behind schedule. The Navy attributes the delay to unplanned tasks, including the first full shutdown of the ship's complex Integrated Power System since delivery and the need for more cabling than the original design anticipated. A contract modification with Huntington Ingalls added 230,000 hours at a cost of $20 million, and the estimate to convert all three ships rose from $1.8 billion to at least $2 billion. Lockheed Martin received a separate $1.35 billion award in April 2026 to field the weapon system.

Commissioned in 2016, the Zumwalt class comprises three U.S. Navy destroyers — USS Zumwalt, USS Michael Monsoor and the yet-to-be-delivered USS Lyndon B. Johnson. The 190-meter, roughly 16,000-ton tumblehome-hull ships were designed for land attack but saw their original Long Range Land Attack Projectile canceled over cost, leaving the guns without affordable ammunition. The hypersonic conversion repurposes the class as a long-range strike platform.

USS Zumwalt departed Pascagoula, Mississippi, in January 2026 for sea trials. The first at-sea live-fire test of the Conventional Prompt Strike missile is planned for 2027. USS Lyndon B. Johnson is scheduled for delivery in April 2027, and the upgrade of USS Michael Monsoor is expected to begin before the end of this year.