The U.S. Navy has revealed its most modern destroyer -- the futuristic-looking USS Zumwalt (DDG-1000) -- will conduct its first operational patrol in the Sea of Japan off the eastern coast of North Korea.

No exact time frame for the Zumwalt's first combat patrol has been announced but this event will likely occur in the first half of this year. The Zumwalt is assigned to the United States Seventh Fleet, one of two fleets in the United States Pacific Command (USPACOM) with headquarters in Hawaii.

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Her two other sister ships, which are still building, will also be deployed to USPACOM. The navy commissioned Zumwalt on Oct. 15, 2016 in Baltimore during Fleet Week.

The navy said the Zumwalt's patrols in the Sea of Japan are meant to help curtail North Korea's aggressive ballistic missile development programs. North Korea ramped-up the pace of building and testing its ballistic missiles in 2016. It also claims it now has the capability to mount nuclear warheads on its missiles.

When she joins the Seventh Fleet, the $7.5 billion USS Zumwalt will have lived-up to the promise made by Secretary of Defense Ash Carter in April 2016 that all the Zumwalts will be assigned to the Pacific as part of the rebalance of U.S. forces to the region to counter China and promote stability.

Carter said "all three of our newest class of stealth destroyers, the DDG-1000, will be homeported with the Pacific fleet' in addition to other new military equipment slated for the Pacific such as the F-22 Raptor and the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

The Zumwalt's combat systems will be tested and certified at Naval Base San Diego, its homeport. Key on the minds of the engineers working on this are radar issues in light of changes the Navy made in the Zumwalt's major combat system sensor.

The combat systems will be used to guide the Zumwalt's surface-to-air/anti-ship missiles, which is the RIM-66 Standard Missile-2 IIIB.

The missile is specifically designed for the Aegis Combat System and the Mk41 Vertical launch system. Block III missiles mount the MK 45 MOD 9 target detecting device for improved performance against low altitude targets.

Block IIIB missiles also have a dual semi-active/infrared seeker for terminal homing. The dual seeker is intended for use in high-ECM environments against over-the-horizon targets or targets with a small radar cross section.

The second in the Zumwalt-class is the USS Michael Mansoor (DDG-1001) while the third is the USS Lyndon B. Johnson (DDG-1002), which will be armed with an electromagnetic railgun in place of one of its 155 mm guns.

All three ships in the Zumwalt-class will likely mount laser weapons systems to shoot down aerial drones and, eventually, missiles.

TagsUSS Zumwalt, U.S. Navy, United States Pacific Command, United States Seventh Fleet, Sea of Japan, North Korea, Aegis Combat System