The U.S. Navy and Army have achieved a significant milestone in hypersonic missile development with the completion of a successful end-to-end flight test of the Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) missile conducted at the Pacific Missile Range Facility, Kauai, Hawaii.
Photo: USN
The CPS weapon system utilizes a boost-glide design. The tested missile was an all-up-round (ARU) configuration featuring a two-stage solid rocket motor booster and a Common Hypersonic Glide Body (CHGB). The CHGB itself houses a kinetic energy projectile warhead.
While details of the recent test results are not publicly available, it represents a critical step forward for the CPS program. Prior testing efforts, however, did encounter setbacks. The inaugural Joint Flight Campaign-1 (JFC-1) conducted in June 2022 experienced an in-flight anomaly that limited data collection. The Navy has reportedly addressed the root cause of this anomaly and implemented corrective actions.
The Navy’s CPS roadmap includes the development and demonstration of a prototype hypersonic missile system with a cold-gas launch capability. This system is intended for rapid deployment aboard Zumwalt-class destroyers by fiscal year 2025 (FY25), with an eye towards achieving initial operational capability on Virginia-class submarines by FY29.
The Army, collaborating on the CPS development, has distinct deployment plans for the hypersonic technology. Their Long Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW) program aims to integrate the prototype missile with mobile land-based launchers, providing the Army with a strategically flexible hypersonic strike capability.
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