Hypersonic weapons are a difficult threat to today's defence systems due to their high speed.

The US House Armed Services Committee, a permanent member of the US House of Representatives, is increasing hypersonic pressure. The committee has increased pressure on the US Navy for hypersonic weapon integration for Zumwalt-class destroyers, while the Navy has not yet made this process a budget priority. In the past period, the US Navy was authorized with the development of a common weapon that could be launched from both submarines and surface platforms. The US is considering sea-based hypersonic missiles as a good alternative to nuclear weapons.

The US Navy, which does not give priority to this new weapon, continues its investments for the future. In this context, “Virginia Payload Module” integration was started for Block V model Virginia class submarines earlier this year. The Navy requested an additional budget of 1 billion USD from the state for activities for the 2021 Fiscal Year, such as the R&D, integration and subsystem development of the new weapon. The Armed Services Committee has directed the US Navy to focus on surface platforms in integration activities.

Military authorities, which point to the earliest 2028 for the new system to reach the initial operational capability, see Zumwalt class destroyers as a suitable platform for integration due to their large size.

It is stated that the hypersonic weapon pressure will cause slowdown in the Navy LUSV (Large Unmanned Surface Vessel) processes.