Hypersonic missiles, laser: The 3 American destroyers of the Zumwalt class will (finally) reveal their capabilities

The Zumwalt class heavy destroyers were, in the early 90s, to represent the future spearhead of the US Navy's surface fleet. 32 units of this 14.000 ton, 185 m vessel were to be ordered.

But, as was several times the case with American defense programs in the post-Cold War era, delusional technological ambitions and disastrous management made this class one of the biggest budgetary fiascos for the American armies in the last 30 years.

In the end, only 3 ships of the class will be built, while the program will have exceeded $22 billion. Worse, a significant part of its weapons system, the 155 mm Advanced Gun System cannons, have also seen their prices soar, in this case with projectiles each costing between $80.000 to $800.000 depending on their type and its function, whether it is the Long Range Land Attack Projectile or the HyperVelocity Projectile, both developed by BAe.

In fact, the two destroyers of the class already admitted to service, the USS Zumwalt and the USS Michael Monsoor, did not manage to find their place in the American naval system, more than five years after the Initial Operational Capacity was declared.

The last unit, the USS Lyndon B. Johnson, is due to enter service soon, without its precise role having been clearly defined until now.

This situation is all the more problematic as the USS Navy is struggling to keep up with the pace imposed by the renewal and expansion of the Chinese fleet, as the vast majority of its deep-sea surface fleet has more than 25 years of navigation, and that the programs intended to replace the Ticonderoga class cruisers and the first Arleigh Burke class destroyers have still not been launched, with just the US Navy having managed to launch with a certain feverishness the FFG/X frigate program American built on the model of the Italian FREMM.

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