The US is deploying a shipborn hypersonic missile battery to the USS Zumwalt, a destroyer once thought a major mistake.
The U.S. Navy has announced intentions to begin testing the Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) missile system aboard the USS Zumwalt destroyer. The tests are slated to begin in either 2027 or 2028.
The light aircraft carrier was refitted with a flight deck to carry F-35B stealth fighters. The destroyer-turned-flattop is the first carrier to be operated by Japan since World War II.
A U.S. destroyer can fire dozens of cruise missiles within minutes, but reloading back in port can take two months. In a war against China, that could be a fatal weakness.
The Zumwalt-class destroyer, designed to revolutionize naval warfare with stealth capabilities and advanced armaments, has instead become a symbol of strategic misjudgment and wasteful spending.