US Navy awards defense startup $200 million for Blackbeard hypersonic missile

The U.S. Navy awarded defense startup Castelion $200 million for the production of its Blackbeard hypersonic missile, a low-cost, scalable weapon that can be fielded across carrier strike groups, the service announced Tuesday .

The Navy championed the contract as one of the first successful examples of the Department of the Navy Rapid Capabilities Office and how it “has adapted its acquisition structure to more rapidly meet the needs of the warfighter. … By leveraging advanced commercial manufacturing methods and a vertically integrated production line, this landmark program introduces immediate ‘affordable mass’ to the fleet.”

Blackbeard is “an air-launched, hypersonic strike weapon that provides carrier-based strike fighters with a responsive, long-range, high-speed strike option against maritime and land targets, enhancing survivability against advanced air defenses while significantly increasing magazine depth,” the release notes.

The missile, according to Inside Defense , is intended to serve as a standoff weapon with a 200-nautical-mile range, arming aircraft including the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and the F/A-18/E/F Super Hornet.

The Navy has long sought an air-launched hypersonic anti-surface missile and, since 2021, has pursued an air-breathing hypersonic cruise missile through the program dubbed Hypersonic Air-Launched Offensive Anti-Surface Warfare, or HALO, according to earlier reporting from The War Zone.

In subsequent years, Raytheon and Lockheed Martin competed for the contract, with the Navy hoping to field HALO before 2030. However, the service scrapped the program in 2024, citing budgetary constraints.

Castelion is now offering the Navy a low-cost solution to its current gap in its weapons systems.

In February, the Navy awarded the defense startup nearly $50 million after it selected Blackbeard for its Multimission Affordable Capacity Effector (MACE) program. The Navy earmarked $156 million in its fiscal 2027 budget request to procure 353 MACE missiles. And in June, the Navy awarded the company $23.4 million for pre-production prototypes and 50 associated storage and shipping containers, according to Castelion.

The latest contract awarded to Castelion leverages the Small Business Innovation Development Act from the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act “to rapidly transition successful technology developed through private capital investment directly into production. This approach reduces millions of dollars in redundant, non-recurring engineering costs while introducing aggressive commercial competition into the munitions production ecosystem,” according to the release.

And with Castelion’s emphasis on low cost and producibility for Blackbeard, the Navy is seemingly positioning itself well in the post-HALO hypersonic missile world.

Claire Barrett is an editor and military history correspondent for Military Times. She is also a World War II researcher with an unparalleled affinity for Sir Winston Churchill and Michigan football.

美国海军周二宣布，已向国防初创公司 Castelion 授予 2 亿美元，用于生产其“黑胡子”高超音速导弹。该导弹是一种低成本、可扩展的武器，可以部署在航母打击群中。

海军称赞该合同是海军部快速能力办公室首批成功案例之一，并指出该办公室“调整了采购结构，以更快地满足作战人员的需求……通过利用先进的商业制造方法和垂直整合的生产线，这一里程碑式的项目为舰队带来了即刻可用的‘经济实惠的大规模装备’。”

新闻稿指出，“黑胡子”是一种空射高超音速打击武器，可为舰载战斗机提供快速响应、远程、高速的打击选项，用于打击海上和陆地目标，增强其在先进防空系统下的生存能力，同时显著增加弹药储备。

据 Inside Defense 报道，该导弹旨在作为射程为 200 海里的防区外武器，可装备包括 F-35 联合攻击战斗机和 F/A-18/E/F 超级大黄蜂在内的飞机。

据《战区》此前报道，美国海军长期以来一直寻求研发空射高超音速反水面导弹，并且自 2021 年以来，通过名为“高超音速空射进攻性反水面作战”（HALO）的项目，一直在研发吸气式高超音速巡航导弹。

在随后的几年里，雷神公司和洛克希德·马丁公司竞标该合同，海军希望在 2030 年前部署 HALO 系统。然而，由于预算限制，海军在 2024 年取消了该计划。

卡斯特利翁公司目前正向海军提供一种低成本的解决方案，以弥补其武器系统方面的不足。

今年2月，美国海军在选择Blackbeard公司参与其多任务经济型容量效应器（MACE）项目后，向这家国防初创公司授予了近5000万美元的合同。海军在其2027财年预算申请中拨出1.56亿美元用于采购353枚MACE导弹。据Castelion透露，今年6月，海军又向该公司授予了2340万美元的合同，用于生产预生产原型机以及50个相关的存储和运输集装箱。

根据新闻稿，授予卡斯特利翁公司的最新合同利用了2026年国防授权法案中的《小企业创新发展法案》，旨在“将通过私人资本投资开发的成功技术迅速转化为生产。这种方法可以减少数百万美元的冗余、非重复性工程成本，同时在军火生产生态系统中引入积极的商业竞争。”

鉴于卡斯特利翁强调“黑胡子”导弹的低成本和可生产性，海军似乎在后 HALO 高超音速导弹时代占据了有利地位。

克莱尔·巴雷特是《军事时报》的编辑和军事历史记者。她也是一位二战研究员，对温斯顿·丘吉尔爵士和密歇根大学橄榄球队有着无与伦比的热爱。