# Conventional Prompt Strike by Lockheed Martin

Canonical page: https://technooptimist.io/aviation/conventional-prompt-strike
Frontier: [Aviation](https://technooptimist.io/aviation.md) · Field: Hypersonic missiles · Company: [Lockheed Martin](https://technooptimist.io/companies/lockheed-martin.md)
Stage: Proto (2 of 5: Research → Proto → Pilot → Deploy → Scaling)
Updated: last update 2026-07-17, facts checked 2026-10-11
Goal: Give the Navy a non-nuclear weapon that can hit a defended, time-critical target far away within minutes, fired from stealthy ships and submarines that are hard to find first.
Status: Zumwalt refit with launchers done; first at-sea test slipped from 2025 to 2027
Next milestone: First at-sea flight test from USS Zumwalt, target 2027 (slipped 24 months; originally 2025)

## Milestones

| Status | Milestone | Date | Slip |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Done | Two end-to-end flight tests of the Navy-Army missile | 2024 |   |
| Done | First cold-gas launch test, Cape Canaveral | May 2025 |   |
| Done | USS Zumwalt finishes sea trials with CPS launch tubes | 21 Jan 2026 |   |
| Current | First at-sea flight test from USS Zumwalt | 2027 | +24 mo (originally 2025) |

## Upcoming events

- **2027**: First at-sea flight test from USS Zumwalt (slipped 24 mo)

## Most important updates

- **17 Jul 2026**: GAO: Navy two years late fitting hypersonic CPS to Zumwalt; first at-sea test slips to 2027. A Government Accountability Office report found the Navy two years behind schedule adding Conventional Prompt Strike to the three Zumwalt destroyers. ([our story](https://technooptimist.io/stories/gao-navy-two-years-late-fitting-hypersonic-cps-to-zumwalt-first-at-sea-f5eb53b7.md) · [original source](https://interestingengineering.com/military/us-navys-first-hypersonic-destroyer-to-return))
- **21 Jan 2026**: USS Zumwalt completes sea trials after refit as the Navy's first hypersonic missile ship. HII's Ingalls Shipbuilding finished builder's sea trials of USS Zumwalt after a modernization that replaced its two 155 mm Advanced Gun Systems with missile tubes for Conventional Prompt Strike. ([our story](https://technooptimist.io/stories/uss-zumwalt-completes-sea-trials-after-refit-as-the-navy-s-first-c497e4bc.md) · [original source](https://seapowermagazine.org/?p=23990))
- **2 May 2025**: Navy fires Conventional Prompt Strike hypersonic missile with cold-gas launch for the first time. The US Navy's Strategic Systems Programs ran an end-to-end flight test of the Conventional Prompt Strike missile from Cape Canaveral, the first using the cold-gas launch method planned for ships and submarines. ([our story](https://technooptimist.io/stories/navy-fires-conventional-prompt-strike-hypersonic-missile-with-cold-gas-18c9a521.md) · [original source](https://www.naval-technology.com/news/us-navy-test-cps-hypersonic-missile-at-cape-canaveral/))

## Current obstacles

- **Ship integration delays**: Tearing out Zumwalt's guns and fitting missile tubes ran two years late and cost rose from $1.8B to at least $2B for three ships.
- **Low production rate**: Lockheed can build only 6 or 7 missiles a year against a planned 12, per the GAO.

## Physics limits

- **Heat on the glide body**: Gliding at over five times the speed of sound heats the nose and edges to thousands of degrees, so materials, not the rocket, set how long and how hard it can manoeuvre.
- **Every turn costs speed**: An unpowered glider pays for each manoeuvre with energy it can never get back, so dodging defences shortens its range.

## How it works

### Cold launch: Gas pushes it out of the tube

Gas pressure ejects the missile clear of the ship before its first rocket stage lights, so the motor never fires inside the hull.

### Boost: Rocket throws the glide body

A solid-fuel booster carries the shared Common Hypersonic Glide Body high and fast, then separates.

### Glide: Steers on the air at hypersonic speed

The glide body flies through the upper atmosphere and can manoeuvre, so its path is much harder to predict than a ballistic warhead's.

## Spec sheet

| Spec | Conventional Prompt Strike | Provenance |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Missiles per Zumwalt | 12 (4 tubes × 3) | reported |
| Production rate | 6-7 missiles a year (12 planned) | reported |
| Program cost (GAO) | $41B for 224 missiles | reported |

Provenance: reported = stated by the company; estimated = our estimate; sample = a sample figure.

## About Lockheed Martin

Lockheed Martin Skunk Works develops advanced military aircraft, including the Vectis collaborative combat aircraft. Vectis is an unmanned stealth aircraft designed to operate alongside crewed fighters like the F-35.

- Skunk Works, Lockheed Martin's advanced development organization, develops military aircraft.
- Vectis is a collaborative combat aircraft (CCA) designed to operate alongside F-35 and F-22 fighters.
- Five Vectis aircraft in build; first flight targeted by end of 2027.

- Founded: 1995
- Headquarters: US
- Status: public
- Website: https://www.lockheedmartin.com

Company page: https://technooptimist.io/companies/lockheed-martin.md

## Related programs

More from Lockheed Martin:

- [Vectis](https://technooptimist.io/aviation/vectis.md) (Proto)
- [Dark Eagle](https://technooptimist.io/aviation/dark-eagle.md) (Deploy)
- [Sikorsky S-70UAS U-Hawk](https://technooptimist.io/aviation/s-70uas-u-hawk.md) (Proto)
- [AGM-183 ARRW](https://technooptimist.io/aviation/agm-183-arrw.md) (Pilot)
- [PAC-3 MSE production ramp](https://technooptimist.io/manufacturing/pac-3-mse-production.md) (Scaling)

Everything in Aviation: https://technooptimist.io/aviation.md

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