The U.S. Navy’s new, low-cost hypersonic missile, dubbed “Blackbeard,” has finally been revealed to the public
Produced by Castelion, hard details about Blackbeard are hard to come by, partly because the weapon has seen a lot of rapid revisions throughout its testing process aimed at making it more effective and easier to manufacture at scale. But we do know that the Navy’s established requirements for the air-launched version of Blackbeard were that the weapon can’t be more than 12 feet long or seven inches in diameter, with a maximum weight of 2,750 pounds.
For context, that would make the weapon roughly the same length and diameter as an AIM-120 AMRAAM, but potentially much heavier. That version would all but certainly omit the rocket booster seen in the released image, as the fighter itself would carry the weapon up to sufficient launch altitude.
It is expected that its range will be more than 500 miles.
“Hypersonic” is a tricky term because it’s got a handful of different definitions depending on who you talk to.
In the minds of most, “hypersonic” means flying at speed above Mach 5. In the minds of scientists, hypersonic flight begins when an object is traveling so fast that its interaction with the air it passes through begins to change the air’s chemistry, which tends to start happening at around Mach 5.
But when you add the word “weapon” or “missile” to “hypersonic,” it stops being a measure of speed and starts being a weapons classification. And in order to earn that moniker, a weapon needs to maintain those higher than Mach 5 speeds and be able to maneuver somewhat unpredictably to complicate intercepts. This behavior would be unlike ballistic missiles, which also achieve hypersonic speeds but are much more predictable.
Related: Mako: Arming the F-35 with hypersonic missiles
Unlike previous American hypersonic weapons that often come with wild per-unit price tags, estimates for Blackbeard’s per-unit price at full rate production all range between $300,000 and $500,000 per weapon. These figures would make the missiles potentially cheaper than a short-range Sidewinder, and only about twice as costly as a Hellfire.
A hypersonic weapon, like Blackbeard, with a range of 500 miles or better, could be a very useful addition to the Navy’s strike capabilities. It will offer similar ranges to the million-dollar plus AGM-158B JASSM-ER cruise missile, and the ability to close the distance to a target at well over five times the speed. And at such a low price point, these weapons don’t have to be specialized deterrents only used on special occasions.
The Navy was the first to jump on the Blackbeard bandwagon during the weapon’s early testing.
In February 2026, it began by awarding Castelion nearly $50 million to continue maturing the system. Then, in June, it placed a $23.4 million order for the first 50 weapons and associated shipping and storage containers. That means that, even in this early production phase, the Navy is only paying about $468,000 a weapon.
The Navy thinks this weapon is so promising that they’ve already ponied up another $105 million to integrate Blackbeard hypersonic missiles into their F/A-18 Super Hornets with initial operating capability set for 2027.
But the Navy isn’t the only branch that’s into pirates. The Army has also expressed interest in fielding a ground-launched variant of Blackbeard, potentially as an addition to systems like the M142 HIMARS.
Feature Image: Castelion’s Blackbird hypersonic missile takes off during test launch. (Castelion)
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