GAO Report Notes Separate Navy and Army Hypersonic Plans Despite Shared Glide Body and $50 Billion Investment

A Government Accountability Office report published July 17 said the Navy and Army lack a unified investment strategy for hypersonic missiles and that separate management contributes to inefficiencies and delays. @BreakingDefense reported that the services collectively plan to invest more than $50 billion in the programs.

The Navy is installing a vertical launch system for Conventional Prompt Strike missiles on Zumwalt-class destroyers and plans to add it to some Virginia-class submarines.

The Army is developing the Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon, known as Dark Eagle, which launches from the ground and produces the missile glide body used by both services. The services envision a 224-missile stockpile in which each round is estimated to cost tens of millions of dollars.

Navy and Army officials coordinate with each other but largely manage investment decisions separately, the GAO report said.

The Navy faces a roughly two-year delay modernizing its three Zumwalt-class destroyers. As of January 2026 the USS Zumwalt was 94 percent complete with the updates but remained behind schedule because of unplanned work. Flight testing of CPS missiles on the destroyers, originally set for 2025, has been postponed until 2027 due to funding and testing challenges.

The CPS program also faces quality and production issues that prevent it from reaching a goal of 12 missile rounds annually. Prime contractor Lockheed Martin has the capacity to build a maximum of six to seven rounds per year, the report found. The Navy conducted a successful test of the Second Stage Solid Rocket Motor for the CPS and Long Range Hypersonic Weapon programs in 2021.