Hypersonic Race Heats Up: US Preps ‘Blackbeard’ Missile for Mobile Launchers
Pentagon Backs New Hypersonic Strike Weapon In a major move for U.S. long-range firepower, California-based startup Castelion announced it won “multiple awards” to integrate its Blackbeard hypersonic missile with U.S. Army and Navy systems breakingdefense.com. The contracts, revealed on Oct. 24, are the first platform-integration deals for Blackbeard and will allow live-fire testing with real military launchers. “These integration contracts validate that affordability and speed are critical to modern deterrence,” said Bryon Hargis, Castelion’s CEO, highlighting the Pentagon’s demand for faster and cheaper weapons development foxbusiness.com. The ultimate goal is to enable the U.S. military to field hypersonic missiles across