THE United States Navy’s ultra-versatile $A4.9 billion Zumwalt-class stealth destroyer is the second of three new hi-tech vessels to be rolled out by the defence force.

Known as USS Michael Monsoor, the 185-metre vessel has a sophisticated on-board computer network, hard-to-detect downward-sloping hulls and a large flight deck which can be used to land helicopters and drones.

However, it’s the two 155-millimetre-diameter cannons capable of shooting GPS-guided shells up to 96km that are the real hero of the deadly warship.

The only issue is the $A1.2 million price tag of each “smart” shell is too expensive for the Navy to afford, meaning the main weapons of the vessel won’t have any ammunition.

This is bad news given the Zumwalts had been designed to use smart shells to bomb enemy beaches so marines could storm ashore.

Navy spokeswoman Lt. Lauren Chatmas said the purpose of the vessels would now switch from bombarding beaches to hunting other ships.

“[A Zumwalt] will serve as a focused surface-strike asset that can be deployed with existing long-range weapons,” she told Motherboard.

While this sounds like a great plan, as it stands, the Navy doesn’t have enough replacement anti-ship missiles for the Zumwalts’ launchers.

In 2017, the Navy purchased 23 long-range anti-ship missiles capable of flying at least 320km for a total cost of $A111 million — based on this, it would cost in the ballpark of $A370 million to fully arm the Zumwalt.

While this is cheaper than using GPS-guided shells, it would still be years before the navy could afford to fully stock its warship.

Independent naval expert Eric Wertheim said he expected the defence force would work out the kinks in the project over time.

“A large and powerful warship like the Zumwalt was built from the ground up to be flexible and adaptable,” he said.

Former commanding officer of the destroyer Zumwalt, Captain James Kirk (yes, that is his real name), said the Navy was continuing to search for a solution to act as a replacement round.

“We continue to monitor industry’s development and technical maturation. An example of that is the Hyper Velocity Projectile,” he told Defense News, referring to a high speed guided munition developed by BAE Systems for use in electromagnetic rail guns.

He added once the budget for the 2019 fiscal year was released, the Navy would be able to make a more concrete decision on what options it had for the Zumwalt-class.

“The president’s budget will hit, and we’ll have a little more ability to speak to exactly what we envision as the direction for the ship,” Captain Kirk said.

One of the biggest selling points for the ship is the impressive computer system which integrates components such as radar, weapons and propulsion apparatuses.

Capt. Kevin Smith said the ship’s computer system had been specifically designed to accommodate software upgrades for new technologies that emerge.

“We are still always learning and updating the computer programs. We will do functional and performance testing, but it is impossible to test 7-million lines of code,” he told National Interest .

Smith added the Navy did experience delays with some equipment and technology integration — such as the scaffolding on the composite deck and antenna integration — when first building the ship, but admits it’s all a learning curve.

“Zumwalt was a challenge, being a first-in-class propulsion plant. A lot of the test program (for DDG 1001) is identical to what we did on the lead ship, including integration and testing of the propulsion and power system.

“We can tell you it is much more efficient this time. We are not seeing the issues we saw with DDG 1000 (USS Zumwalt), it has been going much smoother.”