US Navy awards HII's Ingalls Shipbuilding USD154.8 million Zumwalt con…

The US Navy plans to replace Zumwalt-class destroyers' Advanced Gun Systems with hypersonic missile launching systems. (Janes/Michael Fabey)

The US Navy (USN) on 29 August awarded HII's Ingalls Shipbuilding division a USD154.8 million contract modification for the modernisation of USS Zumwalt (DDG 1000), HII officials confirmed.

Zumwalt arrived in Pascagoula on 19 August after transiting from San Diego, California, HII said. The ship's modernisation at the yard will include technology upgrades and the integration of the Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) weapon system, HII said.

In January 2023 the navy awarded Ingalls a USD10.5 million contract for the modernisation period planning of Zumwalt and USS Michael Monsoor (DDG 1001). Michael Monsoor is scheduled for CPS installation at Ingalls during a future modernisation.

The navy chose to modify the three-ship Zumwalt class for CPS operations to further optimise the vessels for conducting surface strike missions, according to the Congressional Research Service's (CRS's) updated report, Navy DDG-51 and DDG-1000 Destroyer Programs: Background and Issues for Congress, released on 8 August.

The CPS modifications include the removal of the ships' Advanced Gun Systems and associated below-deck equipment to replace them with large-diameter vertical launch tubes capable of storing and firing the navy's new hypersonic CPS missiles, with a goal of having the first CPS-equipped DDG-1000-class ship ready for testing by 2025, the CRS noted.

“Each DDG-1000-class ship reportedly is to be equipped with four of the large-diameter tubes, with each tube capable of holding three CPS missiles, for a total of 12 CPS missiles per ship,” the CRS pointed out.