The US Navy has awarded nearly $50 million to Castelion to speed development and prototype production of the Blackbeard hypersonic weapon.
Under a firm‑fixed‑price order issued against an existing basic ordering agreement, the service directed funding to the California-based firm for full‑scale prototypes, flight testing, integration work, and early operational fielding of the system.
The deal is part of a Small Business Innovation Research Phase III effort focused on “Low Cost Highly Manufacturable Long Range Strike Weapon Production.” Work will be carried out in Torrance and is expected to continue through November 2027.
The Blackbeard design aims to deliver a hypersonic glide‑body or booster‑integrated weapon capable of long‑range strike against defended targets, offering both rapid response and survivability against current air‑defense systems.
Developing the Blackbeard
The Blackbeard’s evolution has accelerated over the past year, with multiple contract and funding milestones.
In October 2025, Castelion secured integration awards to adapt Blackbeard for firing from diverse launch platforms, an early test of the weapon’s multi‑domain potential.
In December 2025, the company closed $350 million in Series B financing to expand manufacturing and production capacity for the Blackbeard and related hypersonic systems. Much of this capital is slated for tooling and facility build‑out to support accelerated production.
Earlier in 2025, the US Army included funding in its fiscal 2026 budget to support a version of the Blackbeard designed for launch from HIMARS‑class rocket systems.
