The American destroyer USS Zumwalt sailed from the port of Pascagoula, Mississippi, to embark on its first trials. Thus, it became the first warship to make its journey equipped with intercontinental missiles.
“Military Watch” magazine said that the destroyer “Zumwalt” has undergone modernization since August 2023, when its advanced 155 mm gun turrets were removed and replaced by twelve launch tubes for the “conventional quick strike” (CBC) hypersonic intercontinental missile, which reaches a final speed of more than five times the speed of sound (more than Mach 5), and its unknown range exceeds more than 6 thousand kilometers.
The magazine highlighted that this missile will, for the first time, allow the US Armed Forces, or any army in the world, the option of launching intercontinental ballistic missile attacks without using nuclear warheads. It will also enable Zumwalt-class warships to perform entirely new tasks, especially after many problems and questions were raised regarding the feasibility of having warships within the US Navy.
It indicated that the “Conventional Rapid Strike” (CBS) missile is based on the “Long-Range Hypersonic Weapons Program”, which was developed by Lockheed Martin for the benefit of the US Army, and uses the same propellant missile and the same common hypersonic gliding warhead. The propellant missile, after being launched vertically, releases the warhead, which in turn accelerates to hypersonic speeds.
The magazine concerned with military affairs pointed out that one of the major risks of using this missile is that its flight characteristics will alert the strategic early warning radar systems of China and Russia. Which means the United States would likely need to notify both if it was launched, just as Russia did when it notified Washington and Beijing when its new Oreshnik (known as the Nut Tree) medium-range hypersonic ballistic missile was launched in combat operations in Ukraine.
She stated that such missiles capable of launching strikes at this range would provide many potential benefits, including making attacks less predictable and providing fire support in areas where there is not a sufficient naval presence to launch the required number of cruise missile strikes.
The American destroyer USS Zumwalt completed its first operational mission in November 2022 with the Pacific Fleet, which lasted three months.
This destroyer is one of only three destroyers of its class built, at a cost exceeding US$9 billion per destroyer, a cost comparable to the cost of a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier; This makes them the most expensive surface warships in the world, and their construction costs exceeded initial estimates when the program began by several times, and they also require very intensive maintenance.
Originally, 32 warships were planned, but another 29 were canceled due to design problems, including the inability of the destroyers’ guns to function as intended, and a reduction in the number of vertical launchers to just 80. Cost if used for traditional tasks.
Military Watch reported that integrating ballistic missiles on board destroyers has become increasingly common, as North Korea did so on its Choi Hyun-class ships, the first of which it launched in April 2025, while China has repeatedly tested YJ-20 hypersonic anti-ship ballistic missiles from its Type 055-class destroyers, and they are likely to enter service in 2026. However, Such medium-range designs cannot be compared to the range of the CBS hypersonic ICBM, and are intended for tactical purposes and not to provide a global strike capability.
However, China, Russia, and North Korea have all developed medium-range land-based ballistic missiles with precision conventional strike capabilities, while China is currently reportedly developing an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of launching precision strikes against high-value enemy warships. The long history of delays in the Zumwalt-class destroyer program has raised many questions in US defense and naval circles about when these ships will enter service equipped with CPS missiles. Transcontinental and new hypersonics.
