The US Navy has awarded Castelion an $89.9M contract to advance the Blackbeard hypersonic strike weapon toward Early Operational Capability (EOC) by 2028.
Castelion press release
Castelion has been awarded an $89,997,162 firm-fixed-price order from the U.S. Navy to advance Blackbeard hypersonic strike weapon to Early Operational Capability (EOC). The award is building on Castelion’s prior work regarding “Low Cost Highly Manufacturable Long Range Strike Weapon Production.”
The order funds engineering, technical, logistics, and manufacturing services supporting 50 EOC weapons and Blackbeard’s transition to a Navy Program of Record. It also funds Defense Exportability Features design modifications to accelerate export to our allies and partners.
The award is a critical step in Blackbeard’s transition from development and flight testing toward operationally relevant production. Work will be performed in Torrance, California, and is expected to be completed in August 2028.
About Castelion
Castelion builds American hypersonic deterrence through rapid, affordable, and scalable production of advanced strike weapons. Blackbeard is the first U.S. hypersonic system engineered from inception for industrial-rate output, commercial unit cost, and continuous flight test iteration. The company is headquartered in Torrance, California, with manufacturing operations in New Mexico, Texas, and California, and offices in Washington D.C.
Naval News comments:
Developed by California-based defense startup Castelion, Blackbeard is a compact, low-cost long-range hypersonic strike weapon designed specifically for high-rate mass production. Engineered from inception for industrial scalability rather than low-volume demo programs, Blackbeard features vertically integrated propulsion and guidance systems optimized to achieve speeds exceeding Mach 5 with an operational strike range of up to 500 nautical miles (approx. 800 km).
While initially tested for land-based platforms, Blackbeard has quickly become a pivotal element of U.S. Navy carrier aviation strategy. The Navy is heavily prioritizing the weapon for integration onto the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fleet, providing carrier air wings with a rapid-response, standoff hypersonic capability to penetrate modern anti-access/area-denial (A2/AD) bubbles.
Compared to exquisite, multi-million-dollar hypersonic programs, Blackbeard trades heavy warhead payload for unit affordability—aiming for production costs under $500,000 per round. By enabling high-volume magazine capacity on aircraft carriers, Blackbeard aims to compress enemy decision-making timelines and offer the U.S. Navy scalable, conventional strike volume across contested maritime environments.
