The Navy is refitting the Uss Zumwalt to carry hypersonic missiles and stay at sea longer, a shift that turns the stealth destroyer into a far more persistent strike ship. The modernization work is part of a broader overhaul for the Zumwalt class as the service prepares its first ships for the Conventional Prompt Strike mission.
Recently released documents show the same direction for USS Michael Monsoor, whose modernization list includes a Fuel Endurance and Range modification. That work will convert existing salt water ballast tanks to hold more fuel oil, while other changes will let the Zumwalt class take on additional fuel during replenishment. The Navy’s first hypersonic strike platforms will therefore be able to loiter for longer periods after the modifications, extending the reach of ships designed to deliver rapid attacks from offshore.
Capt. Clint Lawler said the Zumwalt class, with its stealth design and integration of the Conventional Prompt Strike weapons system, will be the Navy’s premier offensive surface combatant, providing sea-based precision capabilities that can effectively engage strategic targets with long-range fires. The Navy began its first Conventional Prompt Strike modernization effort on USS Zumwalt in 2023 at HII Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi, and USS Lyndon B. Johnson docked there in 2025 for its own conversion.
The strike system itself comes from a joint Army-Navy program built to hit targets thousands of miles away on short notice. The Navy plans to deploy it from stealthy destroyers and future Virginia-class nuclear attack boats, while the Army’s adjacent Dark Eagle system may reach up to at least 2,175 miles. On the Zumwalt class, both Advanced Gun System turrets were removed to make room for that mission. One former mount will hold a Large Missile Vertical Launching System with four Advanced Payload Modules carrying three hypersonic missiles each, and Naval Sea Systems Command has said the second former mount will remain empty for future capabilities.
The change closes the loop on a ship class that was built for a different war. The Zumwalt class was conceived in the 1990s and early 2000s to provide naval gunfire support, but that role lost relevance as ground-based anti-ship missile systems spread. Only three of the 32 envisioned Zumwalt-class stealth destroyers were built, and all three have now been adapted to carry hypersonic missiles instead. What the Navy once treated as an experimental surface combatant is becoming the service’s long-range offensive tool.
