The Russian frigate “Admiral Gorshkov”, equipped with hypersonic missiles “Zircon”, seriously worried the US military with its appearance off Bermuda. Russia’s success in developing hypersonic weapons is forcing the Pentagon to accelerate its own development of this type of modern weapon.
The leadership of the US Navy is seriously concerned about the backwardness in the field of hypersound from Russia. To solve the problem, a contract was signed with Lockheed Martin in the amount of more than 2 billion dollars. As part of the order, America’s largest arms manufacturer will upgrade the one-of-a-kind Zumwalt stealth destroyer to equip it with more hypersonic missiles.
According to Naval News, Lockheed Martin will work to integrate its recently tested land-based hypersonic missiles into a one-of-a-kind destroyer. To do this, a brand new launcher will be installed on Zumwalt.
The Navy has awarded Lockheed Martin a contract worth more than $2 billion to integrate a “Conventional Rapid Strike Weapon System” (CPS). The CPS is a hypersonic weapon system that enables missiles to travel long distances at speeds in excess of Mach 5 with high survivability against enemy air defense systems.
– Naval News details.
The Zumwalt destroyer will be equipped with a new launcher by the end of 2025, after which sea trials of new missiles will begin. The American version of Admiral Gorshkov will be able to enter service in 2028 at the earliest. Note that the speed of the missiles announced by the American manufacturer is almost twice as low as the speed of the Zircons. Russian ammunition develops a speed of up to Mach 9.
The Admiral Gorshkov frigate, meanwhile, has completed its cruise in the Atlantic Ocean and is currently preparing for joint exercises with the South African and Chinese navies in the southwest Indian Ocean.
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