The United States is preparing to send its most expensive surface combatant to sea armed with a weapon built for speed, reach, and surprise. The $8 billion stealth destroyer USS Zumwalt is being refitted to carry a new generation of hypersonic missiles, turning a once-troubled program into a test bed for first-strike naval firepower. As the ship leaves port without its original guns, it is poised to return as a platform that could redefine how the US Navy fights at long range.
I see this shift as more than a technical upgrade. It is a strategic bet that a small number of highly survivable ships, each carrying a handful of exceptionally fast weapons, can deter rivals and shape crises before they escalate. The question now is whether the Zumwalt class can finally live up to its billing as “the most advanced ship in the world” by delivering credible hypersonic punch at sea.
The $8 Billion “Invisible Destroyer” Finds a New Purpose
The Zumwalt class has always been defined by its price tag and its silhouette. The Price of Stealth Each ship is estimated to cost around $7.5 to 8 billion once research and development are counted, a figure that far exceeded the original expectations for a destroyer hull. That investment bought a distinctive tumblehome design and a radar signature closer to a fishing boat than a capital ship, which is why some officials now describe Zumwalt as an “Invisible Destroyer” intended to slip closer to contested shores than traditional cruisers or destroyers can safely manage.
Earlier this month, the US Navy Launches the Invisible Destroyer, presenting it as The Most Advanced Ship In The World and signaling that the vessel’s original design intent is being reshaped around long-range strike. Naval Sea Systems Command, or NAVSEA, has laid out modernization and basing plans that move the class away from its abandoned land-attack gun concept and toward a role built around a small number of hypersonic weapons or 28 Tomahawk cruise missiles. In that light, the $8 billion price tag is being reframed as the cost of fielding a stealthy, survivable launch platform for some of the most sophisticated missiles the United States has ever deployed at sea.
From Failed Guns to Hypersonic Tubes
The most visible symbol of that pivot is the removal of the ship’s artillery. USS Zumwalt is set to put to Sea in 2026 without main gun systems, a fact underscored in both written reporting and a USS Zumwalt (DDG panel discussion that highlighted how the original 155 mm batteries never delivered affordable ammunition. It was also confirmed that both 155mm Advanced Gun Systems, or AGS, were removed, with the housing for the forward turret completely cleared to make room for new launchers. In practical terms, the destroyer is trading volume fire for a handful of extremely high-value shots.
Those shots will come from large-diameter tubes designed around the Navy’s Conventional Prompt Strike concept. The US Navy’s Conventional Prompt Strike, or CPS, program is intended to give Zumwalt destroyers devastating speed and range by 2026, unlocking new offensive capabilities with hypersonic missiles against hardened or time-sensitive targets. At Ingalls Shipbuilding, the front AGS has already been lifted from the bow of the ship to prepare for this conversion, a step highlighted in a broader look shows how Zumwalt is being used as the lead vessel in a wider push to proliferate such missiles across the fleet.
Inside the Hypersonic Upgrade
What replaces the guns is not a simple swap of launchers but a structural reimagining of the bow. Imagery and yard updates show a bank of large vertical tubes embedded where the forward turret once sat, giving the first clear look at the stealth destroyer’s hypersonic missile launchers and their integration into the hull form, as seen in early first-look assessments. The US Navy launches its futuristic $8 Billion USS Zumwalt stealth destroyer from port with a weapon designed for first strike, and that phrase is not hyperbole: the CPS round is meant to travel at hypersonic speeds and arrive with little warning, making the ship a tool for preempting or blunting hostile moves rather than simply reacting to them.
Program officials have been careful to stress that the physical work is on schedule even if the exact testing timeline is less clear. One detailed account notes that Zumwalt installs of Hypersonic Weapon Tubes on pace, testing for IOC unclear, with HII and Navy managers describing how the structural modifications to DDG-1000 are progressing even as they avoid promising a firm in-service date. A separate technical explainer walks through how CPS compares with Russian systems and why the US Navy sees this as the opening move in a New Naval Strike Race.
What Comes Next for the Zumwalt Trio
USS Zumwalt is only the first of three ships to receive this treatment, and the follow-on schedule matters for how quickly the Navy can field a meaningful hypersonic salvo at sea. Reporting on the broader class notes that Zumwalt to finish Hypersonic Weapon Tube Install by end of 2025, DDG-1002 to start in 2026, with program manager Lawler explaining how the Navy’s Zumwalt-class destroyer roadmap will bring the third hull, Johnson, into the upgrade pipeline soon after the lead ship. Johnson, the third Zumwalt class ship, which is still in the final phases of construction, is next in line to get the new launch tubes.