U.S. defence startup Castelion has secured contracts to integrate its Blackbeard hypersonic weapon with Army and Navy systems, marking a step toward global deployment of next-generation strike missiles.
Castelion said on Friday it will work with the U.S. Army to mount the Blackbeard hypersonic strike system onto platforms such as the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), which has seen extensive use in Ukraine.
The company also confirmed an agreement with the U.S. Navy, though terms of both contracts were not disclosed. The move comes amid heightened competition with China and Russia to develop manoeuvrable hypersonic missiles capable of evading current air defences.
Hypersonic weapons travel at more than five times the speed of sound in the upper atmosphere and can alter direction mid-flight. Their development has become a strategic priority for the U.S. military, which is seeking both capability and affordability.
Blackbeard is Castelion’s first hypersonic weapon system and is designed for mass production, with a target cost in the “hundreds of thousands of dollars” per unit. The company said it aims to produce thousands annually at full-scale capacity — a marked shift from the traditionally high-cost, low-volume models of previous programmes.
President Donald Trump’s proposed 2026 budget earmarks $25 million for hypersonic integration efforts, though the plan has yet to be enacted by Congress.
U.S. firms including Stratolaunch, Raytheon (a unit of RTX), and Lockheed Martin are also racing to bring hypersonic capabilities into service. The Pentagon views the diversification and expansion of these technologies as vital to maintaining strategic deterrence.
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U.S. defence startup Castelion has secured contracts to integrate its Blackbeard hypersonic weapon with Army and Navy systems, marking a step toward g...
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British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived for the Coalition of the Willing meeting on Friday 24th October.
The body of a 56-year-old man has been found buried in mud a year after he was swept away in deadly flash floods in southeastern Spain, authorities said on Thursday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has appointed Nikolai Udovichenko as his Special Representative for the delimitation and demarcation of state borders with CIS countries, including the breakaway “Republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.”
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The war in Ukraine has reached a strategic impasse, and it seems that the conflict will not be solved by military means. This creates a path toward one of two alternatives: either a “frozen” phase that can last indefinitely or a quest for a durable political regulation.
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Snapchat will start charging users who store more than 5GB of photos and videos in its Memories feature, prompting backlash from long-time users.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived for the Coalition of the Willing meeting on Friday 24th October.
Twenty-two years ago, the Concorde made its final descent into London, marking the end of an era when air travel reached twice the speed of sound and luxury met groundbreaking engineering.
The body of a 56-year-old man has been found buried in mud a year after he was swept away in deadly flash floods in southeastern Spain, authorities said on Thursday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has appointed Nikolai Udovichenko as his Special Representative for the delimitation and demarcation of state borders with CIS countries, including the breakaway “Republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.”
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy met King Charles III at Windsor Castle on 24 October, ahead of planned talks with European leaders in London.
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