US Navy orders 50 low-cost Blackbeard hypersonic missile prototypes from Castelion
Hypersonic missiles have long been scarce and expensive. The US Navy just ordered 50 cheap ones: a $23.4M contract to Castelion on June 12 for pre-production Blackbeard prototypes, a Mach 5-plus strike missile due December 2027. A sea-launch from an uncrewed Marauder vessel is pl
Hypersonic missiles have long been scarce and expensive, fielded in small numbers because each one costs a fortune to build. That math is shifting. On June 12, 2026, the US Navy awarded Castelion a 23.4 million dollar contract to produce 50 pre-production prototypes of Blackbeard, a low-cost hypersonic strike missile, with the work set to finish by December 2027. Blackbeard is built to fly faster than Mach 5, roughly five times the speed of sound, on shifting trajectories that are far harder for air defenses to track and intercept than the predictable arc of a conventional missile. What sets the program apart is not raw speed but price: the pitch is a hypersonic weapon cheap enough to buy in quantity rather than as a handful of exquisite, one-off rounds. The naval angle sharpens the picture. A day before the prototype order, on June 11, Castelion and Saronic said they will integrate Blackbeard onto Saronic Marauder, an uncrewed surface vessel, and aim to demonstrate a sea launch in 2027. According to reporting on the announcement, it would mark the first time an autonomous surface ship is paired with a hypersonic strike weapon, putting long-range, high-speed firepower on a platform with no crew aboard. Reporting comes from defence-blog, Army Recognition and Ocean News.