(Image/Lockheed Martin)
By Troy Turner
The War Department is investing $50 billion in the hypersonic missile programs for the Navy and Army, of which both programs have significant Alabama connections. Meanwhile, a watchdog report released Friday says there should be a more coordinated effort in the decision-making with that investment.
Alabama-based researchers and assembly workers who produce the missiles in Courtland and Huntsville, military personnel involved in missile defense leadership based in Huntsville, and shipbuilders from Alabama who help build the ships slated to use the Navy’s version of them, all play a critical role in the overall strategy for hypersonic weapons.
And in another Alabama connection, the General Accountability Office announced its findings and recommendation Friday in a report addressed to the state’s Rep. Mike Rogers, who chairs the House Armed Services Committee.
DESTROYERS AND SUBMARINES
Hypersonic weapons, which only entered warfare availability in recent years and remain in development, can travel and maneuver at speeds exceeding Mach 5 (five times the speed of sound). Unlike traditional ballistic missiles that follow highly predictable, arched trajectories, hypersonic weapons fly at lower altitudes within the atmosphere and can unpredictably change course mid-flight, making them notoriously difficult to detect and intercept.
The GAO is recommending the War Department develop and regularly review a comprehensive strategy that guides the coordination of investment decisions for delivering the missiles, of which the department already as readily agreed.
However, in addition to seeking better coordination and thus hopeful cost savings, the GAO’s report provided several insightful updates on the hypersonic missile programs for both the Army and the Navy.
Included is that of the Navy’s planned use of its Zumwalt class of destroyers and its Virginia class of submarines. Alabama ship workers are involved with both, either in Mobile or just across the state line in Pascagoula, Mississippi.
Mobile-based shipbuilder Austal USA produces modules included in submarine production; while as many as 2,000 Alabama-residing employees commute to work in the massive Pascagoula shipyard of Ingalls Shipbuilding, which is under the umbrella of Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) and involved in the Zumwalt modifications required for the destroyers to host hypersonic weapons.
THE ZUMWALT PROBLEM
The Navy plans to field its hypersonic system on Zumwalt class destroyers starting in the late-2020s, and then on Virginia class submarines in the early 2030s. Additionally, the Navy has preliminarily identified its system for use on the Trump class battleship being designed.
The Zumwalt program that began in 2001, however, continues to have significant problems and major delays.
High costs prompted the Navy to reduce the number of ships from an initial planned procurement of 32 vessels down to three: the Zumwalt (DDG 1000), the Michael Monsoor (DDG 1001), and the Lyndon B. Johnson (DDG 1002).
This history served as a backdrop for the GAO report, which stated that “without a comprehensive investment strategy that includes more formal coordination, the Army and Navy are not well-positioned to make timely and efficient investments in key areas, such as addressing shortfalls on their shared production lines or ensuring the economical sustainment and performance of the DDG 1000.”
Various changes made by the Navy as missile development continues also affects costs.
And supply, as the Navy in fiscal year 2020 estimated it would cost about $31 billion in total lifecycle costs for a program that would deliver 262 missiles; but in 2024, the Navy increased its estimate of the total cost to $41 billion, for a smaller tally of 224 missiles.
As of April 2026, the program carries an average estimated cost of approximately $67 million per missile.
HUNTSVILLE’S SUPPORTIVE ROLE
The GAO reported in July 2024 that the Army had paused fielding efforts for its missile, referred to as a Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon, or LRHW. “Since then, the Army has, following a successful test, resumed fielding LRHW, which is launched from a wheeled platform.”
(Photo/U.S. Army)
GAO representatives working on the report met with contractor officials from Dynetics and Lockheed Martin at body and missile production facilities in Huntsville and Courtland.
Huntsville also serves as home to the Army’s Space and Missile Defense Command, among numerous other commands and commercial enterprises working on programs such as hypersonics, directed energy, space communications and many others.
U.S. Space Command Headquarters, which works with all military branches, also has begun a transition from Colorado Springs to its permanent home in Huntsville, which is known as the Rocket City and likewise is home to NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.
The GAO’s report, titled “NAVY SHIP MODERNIZATION: DOD Needs Comprehensive Strategy to Field Hypersonic Missile Capability,” provides much more detail and can be found at this link.
Troy Turner is the editor and senior consultant for AlaDefense.com. He can be contacted at [email protected]. His bio can be found here.
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