ISLAMABAD – The US Navy is considering arming the new USS Zumwalt-classdestroyer,linktobe ready for combat as soon as 2021, with a new weapon expected to be ableto fire missiles armed with warheads designed to conduct prompt globalstrikes within one hour or less, Fox News reported on Wednesday, citingCapt. Kevin Smith, a Zumwalt-class destroyer program manager.
“This would be the perfect platform for Conventional Prompt Strike,” Smithsaid.
The Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) weapons program, initially emerged inUS President George W. Bush’s eralink,and is reportedly engineered to arm ballistic missiles with conventionalwarheads, enabling the missile to have the same speed and range of anuclear weapon mounted on a missile and with the ability to reach any placeon Earth in a “matter of minutes”, according to Fox News.
“The inherent capability of this ship is signatures. (stealth, low radarsignatures) It is designed to be stealthy and carry the fight offensivelyto the adversary,” Smith said.
Smith noted that arming the Zumwalt destroyer is not yet a program ofrecord, as it is currently something being considered or possibly “lookedat” in the future.
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The Pentagon reportedly asked for an increase to the budget of the CPSprogramlink,which had been stopped and resumed several times in recent years, from $201million in 2018, to $278 million in 2019, according to a 2019 CongressionalResearch Service (CRS) report, titled “Conventional Prompt Global Strikeand Long Range Ballistic Missiles”.
The CRS report said, citing developers of the weapon, that it is notintended to function as an alternative to nuclear weapons, although it“would supplement US conventional capabilities”.
