The US plans to construct an underwater hypersonic weapons testing facility, paving the way for its submarine-launched hypersonic weapons against potential adversaries China and Russia.
At a hearing of the US Senate Committee on Armed Services this month, Vice Admiral Johnny Wolfe, the US Navy’s director of Strategic Systems Programs, said that the US is establishing the Multi-Service Advanced Capability Hypersonics Test Bed (MACH-TB) and an innovative Underwater Test Facility at the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Crane, Indiana.
The underwater facility, in particular, marks a significant step toward deploying hypersonic capabilities from submarines, indicating a move to enhance the stealth and survivability of these critical systems.
Wolfe also announced a collaborative effort between the Navy and Army to develop and field a common hypersonic weapon system. The partnership will leverage a shared hypersonic glide body and missile booster and will be on a robust joint test schedule to ensure the cutting-edge weapons meet rigorous performance and reliability standards.
Wolfe emphasized the critical attributes of hypersonic systems, which can travel over five times the speed of sound and rapidly and effectively target heavily defended high-value assets due to their speed, maneuverability and altitude.
The weapons are central to the US Department of Defense’s (DOD) strategic vision as outlined in the 2022 National Defense Strategy, which aims to bolster integrated deterrence, enhance campaigning capabilities and secure enduring advantages over potential adversaries.
The US previously announced its intent to deploy hypersonic weapons aboard submarines, although budget cuts and the lack of appropriate testing facilities have hamstrung the effort.
In November 2021, USNI News reported that the US Navy aims to deploy the Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) hypersonic weapon system aboard the first Virginia-class nuclear attack submarine (SSN) equipped with the Virginia Payload Module by 2028.
It originally intended to field hypersonics on the four guided-missile variants of the Ohio-class submarines in 2025 but had to change its plans due to budget cuts that prevented it from constructing an underwater test facility.
In terms of missile capacity, USNI noted in February 2020 that the add-on Virginia Payload Module has 28 additional missile tubes for 40 missiles per submarine. The report notes that the module would make the Virginia-class SSNs a viable replacement for the older Ohio-class SSGNs armed with 154 missiles, albeit with less missile capacity, potentially leading to magazine depth and firepower concerns.
Budget cuts and reduced shipbuilding orders may greatly shadow the future of the US’ planned submarine-based hypersonic arsenal. Breaking Defense reported that the US Navy reduced its 2025 order for Virginia-class SSNs from two to just one unit this month.
Breaking Defense says that despite canceling one of the planned Virginia SSNs, the US Navy’s 2025 budget maintains the nine projected submarines and US submarine production capability for the US Navy and AUKUS.
While constructing an underwater hypersonic weapons testing facility advances the US hypersonic weapons program, a February 2024 US Congressional Research Service (CRS) report asks critical questions about hypersonic weapons’ operational and strategic implications.
The CRS report says that while US hypersonic weapons research is heavily funded, it lacks clear acquisition plans or approved mission requirements. It also says there are divergent views on the scale and affordability of producing the weapons in meaningful battlefield numbers.
The CRS report says that more detailed assessments including on cost and strategic analyses are needed to better understand the role of hypersonic weapons in US strategy.
On the possible US tactical and strategic uses of hypersonic weapons, Alan Cummings notes in a November 2019 War on the Rocks article that the US can use the weapons to signal interest and resolve, leverage to pursue arms control agreements and provide a flexible response in light of adversary counter-space operations.
Cummings notes that the likely low number of US hypersonic weapons makes them potent signals towards adversaries, as they can show US priorities on interests and redlines. He also notes that low-visibility deployments and systems that can be quickly surged and recovered may be beneficial to achieve that objective.
In 2010, the US simultaneously surfaced three Ohio-class SSGNs in the Indian and Western Pacific Oceans. This move may have shown the US’s displeasure with China’s activities in the South China Sea and East China Sea. The submarines involved were the USS Michigan at Pusan, South Korea, the USS Ohio at Subic Bay, Philippines and the USS Florida at Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.
Cummings says hypersonic weapons can mitigate the threats near-peer adversaries China and Russia pose to trade or other strategic interests if used as bargaining chips in future arms control agreements.
He notes that for the US to negotiate from a position of strength, it needs to develop the same capabilities it aims to limit, as only then would potential adversaries take negotiations seriously.
However, the US may already be seriously behind in submarine-launched hypersonic missiles. In February 2024, Asia Times reported on Russia’s first use of its Zircon ship and submarine-launched hypersonic weapon in the ongoing Ukraine war.
Russia’s Zircon missile underwent its first flight test in 2015 and was announced operational in 2022. The missile was tested by two warships, namely the Admiral Gorshkov frigate and the Severodvinsk SSGN, before being deployed to the frigate in January 2023.
Those naval vessels are not present in the Black Sea at the moment. If the missile were to be launched in combat, it would be atypical to be fired from a ship on which it has yet to be tested.
Cummings also mentions that using hypersonic weapons could offer alternative ways to react to adversaries’ hostile actions in space. He says that the US relies heavily on space-based assets for communication, surveillance and navigation, making it particularly concerned about adversary threats to those assets.
He states that hypersonic weapons can give the US first-strike capabilities against the command uplinks to anti-satellite weapons before the latter could be used.
He also mentions that the short flight time of hypersonic weapons could allow the US to inflict damage before its space-based assets are lost. Both, according to Cummings, are plausible responses to anti-space attacks that can deter the use of anti-satellite weapons in the first place.