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System · Air

Blackbeard

Hypersonic strike weapon designed for industrial-rate output and low unit cost; Navy F/A-18 integration toward Early Operational Capability in 2027.

by Castelion · Unveiled Jun 2025

PrototypeAirContract awardSep 15, 2026
Castelion Blackbeard missile displayed on stands at its reveal

Photo: Castelion · Editorial use (company media kit) · Official manufacturer media asset. Resized and reencoded as WebP with metadata removed; no additional crop or retouching. Company credit retained for factual editorial coverage.

Milestones20252026
  1. UnveiledBlackbeard named in Army FY2026 budget request, reported
  2. Contract award$49.998M prototype, flight-test and fielding order, confirmed
  3. Contract awardProduction framework agreement with the Department of War, confirmed
  4. Contract awardNavy buys 50 Early Operational Capability weapons, reported
  5. Contract awardInitial production delivery order (up to $200M), confirmed

Hypersonic strike weapon designed for industrial-rate output and low unit cost; Navy F/A-18 integration toward Early Operational Capability in 2027.

Timeline5

  1. UnveiledReported

    Blackbeard named in Army FY2026 budget request

    The Army's FY2026 RDT&E budget justification, published in June 2025, publicly named Castelion's Blackbeard and requested $25 million for the Blackbeard Ground Launch (GL) effort. The same document refers to an existing air-launched Blackbeard design, so the name may have been used earlier in non-public settings; no earlier public naming was found.

  2. Contract awardConfirmed

    $49.998M prototype, flight-test and fielding order

  3. Contract awardConfirmed

    Production framework agreement with the Department of War

    Framework agreement under which, once Blackbeard completes testing and validation, the Department will award a two-year multi-year procurement for at least 500 missiles a year, extendable to five years. No contract value was announced.

  4. Contract awardReported

    Navy buys 50 Early Operational Capability weapons

  5. Contract awardConfirmed

    Initial production delivery order (up to $200M)

The latest 10 milestones. Solid entries are confirmed, outlined reported, dashed estimated or still to come; dotted italic entries are speculative. Dates show only the precision the sources give.

Cost to the Government

  • Unit cost (per round)Estimated
    $442K
    Estimate / observation: 2026-04-26 · Then-year $ · 353 units · FY2027

    FY2027 Navy budget: first batch of 353 Blackbeards for $156M (Naval News analysis, as reported by Defense Express), i.e. ~$442,000 per missile (156e6/353 = $441,926). FY2027 procurement line average; includes any line-level support costs.

    Source
  • Unit cost (per unit)Reported
    $384K
    Estimate / observation: 2026-04-24 · Then-year $ · 4,500 units

    Reuters citing FY2027 Pentagon budget documents: Navy plans to buy 4,500 air-launched hypersonic missiles (Blackbeard, Navy MACE effort) for F/A-18E/F over the next five years at an average unit cost of about $384,000 (FYDP average, procurement).

    Source
  • Contract unit priceEstimated
    $468K
    Estimate / observation: 2026-06-16 · 50 units

    US Navy $23.4M firm-fixed-price order for 50 Blackbeard early operational capability pre-production prototypes plus 50 storage and shipping containers. Derived: 23,400,000 / 50 = $468,000 per round including its container. Follow-on Sept 2026 production order is 'up to $200M' with no quantity stated.

    Source

Unit costs and contract unit prices for this system, and budget figures for the programs that buy it. Each figure states its dollar basis and links its source; contract values are under Programs & awards.

Capabilities1