Lockheed Martin to provide sea-based hypersonic missile

Lockheed Martin is partnering with the U.S. Navy to integrate hypersonic strike capability onto surface ships. It will be the first conventional sea-based hypersonic strike capability for the United States.

The U.S. Navy awarded Lockheed Martin a contract worth more than $2 billion, if all options are exercised, to integrate the Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) weapon system onto Zumwalt-class guided missile destroyers (DDGs). CPS is a hypersonic boost-glide weapon system that enables long range missile flight at speeds greater than Mach 5, with high survivability against enemy defenses.

"Lockheed Martin continues to advance hypersonic strike capability for the United States through this new contract," said Steve Layne, vice president of Hypersonic Strike Weapon Systems at Lockheed Martin. "Early design work is already underway."

Under this contract, prime contractor Lockheed Martin will provide launcher systems, weapon control, all up rounds (AURs), which are the integrated missile components, and platform integration support for this naval platform. The company, along with industry partners including subcontractors Northrop Grumman and General Dynamics Mission Systems, is on track to provide the CPS surface-launched, sea-based hypersonic strike capability to sailors by the mid-2020s. The contract also provides for additional AURs plus canisters for the U.S. Army's Long Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW) testing, training, and tactical employment.

CPS shares a common AUR with the Army LRHW and can be launched from multiple platforms including surface ships, submarines, and land-based mobile launchers.

Lockheed Martin is the prime systems integrator for the CPS and LRHW weapon systems.

Lockheed Martin is leveraging its corporate history of system integration on naval platforms and our more than 60 years of hypersonic strike experience to accelerate development on an unprecedented timeline.