Bath Iron Works to install large launch modules for hypersonic missiles on USS Zumwalt
USS Zumwalt with an SH-60R helicopter in the foreground. (Photo: USN/Liz Wolter)
Large Missile Vertical Launch System launch modules would enable USS Zumwalt to fire anti-ship hypersonic missiles.
General Dynamics Bath Iron Works has obtained a $20 million contract from the USN Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Conversion, and Repair to procure long-lead time materials for launch modules aboard the next-generation guided missile destroyer USS Zumwalt (DDG 1000).
Work on the Large Missile Vertical Launch System launch modules, which would be capable of firing the USN’s Intermediate-Range Conventional Prompt Strike (IRCPS) anti-ship hypersonic missile, will take place at four US locations for completion by June 2024.
Existing Mk 57 Vertical Launch System modules are too small for the future IRCPS hypersonic weapon, which the USN hopes to install aboard Zumwalt by 2025.
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