Navy Awards $200M for Blackbeard Hypersonic Missile for Carrier Fighters
The U.S. Navy awarded $200 million this week for the production of low-cost Blackbeard hypersonic missiles that will be fielded from the sea service’s carrier-based fighters. On Monday, the Portfolio Acquisition Executive Aviation office and low-cost missile start-up Castelion announced the delivery order investment. The $200 million will support production of additional Blackbeards beyond the 50 early operational capability missiles previously funded in June. According to Defense Department contracts, $43 million will go toward the production of 444 Blackbeard missiles. Castelion is looking to keep Blackbeard’s cost around half a million dollars to achieve mass affordable production. The award comes
An undated launch of a Blackbeard hypersonic missile. Castelion photo The U.S. Navy awarded $200 million this week for the production of low-cost Blackbeard hypersonic missiles that will be fielded from the sea service’s carrier-based fighters.
On Monday, the Portfolio Acquisition Executive Aviation office and low-cost missile start-up Castelion announced the delivery order investment. The $200 million will support production of additional Blackbeards beyond the 50 early operational capability missiles previously funded in June. According to Defense Department contracts, $43 million will go toward the production of 444 Blackbeard missiles. Castelion is looking to keep Blackbeard’s cost around half a million dollars to achieve mass affordable production.
The award comes as the Navy seeks to introduce new long-range strike capabilities to bolster the reach of carrier aircraft against increasingly sophisticated adversaries such as China.
Designated in Navy service as the Multi-mission Affordable Capacity Effector (MACE), the Blackbeard missile has been highlighted as one of several programmed capabilities for the naval aviator of the future involving new variants of the AGM-158C Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile and the AGM-88G Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile. MACE represents the next-generation of naval fighter-launched weapons alongside the recently revealed AIM-242 Malice and AIM-174B air-to-air missiles. Combined, these missiles will greatly extend the range of carrier strike aircraft against ground, maritime and aerial threats.
“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,” reads the Navy’s release on the new funding effort.
The service’s frontline carrier-based F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fighter plans to equip up to four Blackbeards for strike missions. While the missiles lack the larger warheads of the in-service AGM-84 Harpoon and LRASM, their Mach 5+ speeds and extended-range striking capability can enable strikes from higher-end munitions. American naval aviation relies on legacy-era capabilities from the Cold War that may struggle against the Chinese Navy’s increasingly advanced anti-aircraft warfare destroyers and carrier aircraft during a potential conflict.
Castelion is one of several new firms attempting to address a demand for low-cost cruise missiles from the U.S. military amid concerns of magazine shortages. A Pentagon announcement in July stated an interest in procuring up to 12,000 Blackbeards through a five-year procurement plan. The firm is also partnering with Saronic to launch Blackbeard from a containerized launch via a Marauder medium unmanned surface vessel by 2027.
