To save the Zumwalt Class, the Navy is testing the platform prior to installing hypersonic missiles. If it is suited for that roll, it would be a missile carrier.
USS Zumwalt’s Recent Pacific Underway is ‘First Step’ for Future of the Class, Says PACFLEET CO
Ahead of next year’s installation of hypersonic missiles, the Navy took one of its most advanced warships out for a three-month underway in the Western Pacific to test the ship’s capabilities and reliability, the commander of U.S. Pacific Fleet told USNI News.
USS Zumwalt (DDG-1000), this month, wrapped up an operational testing period in the U.S. Pacific Fleet, giving the service the opportunity to work out the destroyer’s systems and crew ahead of the upgrade period that includes outfitting it with hypersonic weapons at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Miss.
“We learned a lot. [The] main thing we learned about was how to sustain it as it’s often operated,” Adm. Samuel Paparo told USNI News on Friday at the annual Military Reporters and Editors conference.
“It’s an exquisite capability with a ton of promise.”
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We’re really kind of worker-like in getting the Zumwalt west of the dateline, operating her, operating her systems, stretching and training its crew, integrating it with the rest of the fleet to bring its capabilities to bear,” Paparo said.
In a call with reporters last week, Capt. Shea Thompson, the commodore for Surface Development Squadron 1, declined to say whether Zumwalt operated in the South China Sea during the recent underway.
“She conducted joint and bilateral simulated maritime fires training with the 613 [Air Operations Center] and B-1 Bombers, to include a Japanese destroyer and CTF-71 staff. And that was to test combat systems capabilities while operating in 7th Fleet,” Thompson said. “They also worked with the forward deployed [explosive ordnance disposal] unit on the mine countermeasures proof of concept and she integrated with the fleet [maritime operations centers] and conducted air operations with the Army.”