USA prepare the next test blackbeard (Blackbeard), a new hypersonic missile designed to minimize the response capacity of enemy defenses. The Marine last February, the American company awarded a contract to Castellion to advance the development of the system and its flight tests. The plans include testing it from a fighter F/A-18 Hornetan important movement within the bet of Washington by providing themselves with faster, longer-range attack weapons that are more difficult to intercept.
The defense startup has confirmed to Axios that the air-launched version of its Blackbeard missile could fly aboard the naval fighter in the near future. The F/A-18 Hornet already carries air-to-air missiles, guided bombs and anti-ship weapons, but most operate at subsonic or supersonic speeds. The test marks the first known attempt to integrate the weapon into a tactical aircraft suitable for operating from aircraft carriers.
The Blackbeard program seeks to develop a missile capable of overcoming Mach 5; that is, more than 6,100 km/h. At that speed, the response margin of anti-aircraft defenses is drastically reduced, both in detecting, tracking and intercepting the attack.
The agreement signed with the US Navy. has an amount of $49.9 million which finances the development of the prototype, flight testing and initial operational capability for the Blackbeard missile. The project is expected to continue until November 2027.
Castelion, created in 2022 by engineers from the aerospace sector, has focused its strategy on shortening development times and facilitating large-scale production. Blackbeard is part of this logic, which uses vertically integrated propulsion and guidance systems to simplify manufacturing and accelerate development.
Development work on the missile has already included more than twenty experimental flight tests. These have served to examine propulsion systems, aerodynamic stability, flight controls, on-board computing and the thermal protection necessary for sustained high-speed flight. The latest ones have been carried out in October in California and in November in Utah, helping engineers refine propulsion performance, control software and structural strength.
The first test flights reached speeds around Mach 4approximately 4,892 km/h. Castelion hopes that the missile exceed Mach 5 as development continues.
The Blackbeard, also from the HIMARS ground platform
The Blackbeard missile is also being evaluated for the ground launch. In that configuration, it could be triggered from the system M142 HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System) using a modified ammunition container compatible with existing launchers.
Blackbeard aims for a range of up to 800 kilometerswhich places it in an intermediate step between conventional rocket artillery and larger hypersonic systems such as the Long Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW), the very long-range (about 2,776 kilometers) ground-based hypersonic weapon of the US Armyalso known as Dark Eagle.
To support large-scale manufacturing, Castelion has launched a 405-hectare production complex in Rio Rancho, near Albuquerque, New Mexico, called Project Ranger. Plans call for twenty-one industrial buildings dedicated to propulsion production, integration and final assembly.
The company hopes that the site will become the largest complex dedicated to the production of hypersonic missiles in the United States. Project Ranger could go into operation at the end of 2026 and produce several thousand Blackbeard missiles per year.