In its budget proposal for the 2026 fiscal year released last week, the US Army requested $25 million to support the development of the privately held company Castelion's Ground Launched (GL) Blackbeard missile. This weapon is described as an affordable, mass-producible, medium-range hypersonic missile, though its exact cost remains undisclosed.
"The Blackbeard GL’s mission is to defeat time-sensitive, mobile, and fixed targets with hypersonic precision fires, at a fraction of the cost of existing Army hypersonic capabilities," the proposal stated.
The US Army clarified that the Blackbeard GL is not intended to replace the Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW) project, which reportedly has a range of nearly 2,800 km. "Blackbeard GL will achieve approximately 80% of the capability of the Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) Increment 4 at significantly lower cost," the army stated.
The PrSM is a short-range ballistic missile designed to replace the ATACMS. The US Army is preparing to equip HIMARS and M270 launchers with the baseline variant of the PrSM. Increment 4 is expected to have a range of about 1,000 km, double the original version.
US military experts estimate the Blackbeard will have a range of approximately 800 km, a speed of more than Mach 5, and in-flight maneuverability.
The US Army plans to develop a dedicated launch pod for the Blackbeard missile and test firing it from HIMARS. While the number of Blackbeards a HIMARS launcher can carry is unclear, its standard pod can accommodate six guided rockets, a single ATACMS missile, or two PrSMs.
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Blackbeard missile prototype in a video posted by Castelion in January. Screenshot |
Even if it only achieves hypersonic speeds during certain phases of flight, the Blackbeard will offer the US Army greater flexibility in addressing threats and pose additional challenges to enemy air defenses, according to Joseph Trevithick of the military news website War Zone.
Castelion was founded in 2022 by three former SpaceX employees. The company focuses on developing high-speed, easily manufactured, and low-cost precision weapons. As of January, Castelion has raised over $100 million from private investors and secured several contracts worth tens of millions of USD from the US military.
Pham Giang (According to War Zone)
