How Much Does a Blackbeard Hypersonic Missile Cost?

Published on August 26, 2026 | Written by Alec Pow
This article was researched using 14 sources. See our methodology and corrections policy.

Blackbeard is Castelion’s hypersonic strike weapon family, moving from prototype work toward Navy and Army fielding. Current procurement evidence points to roughly $384,000 per missile in the Pentagon’s five-year planning data, with early contract math reaching about $467,000 per weapon-and-container package.

The price changes depending on which stage is measured. The first Navy production order, the FY2027 MACE procurement request, development contracts, Blackbeard-GL work, and Castelion’s mature-production goal all carry different numbers. Reported high-volume targets fall below $300,000, but buyers are not yet paying that amount across current production lots.

For Blackbeard, the useful cost unit is one completed round or one weapon-and-container package. Production volume, included logistics, integration work, testing, launch configuration, and whether the figure covers air-launched MACE or ground-launched Blackbeard-GL can change the result.

How Much Does a Blackbeard Hypersonic Missile Cost?

Current Blackbeard procurement evidence places the missile roughly in the $384,000 to $467,000 (at $30 per hour, earning that amount would take about 6.2 to 7.5 years of full-time work, before taxes) range, with a reported mature-production goal below $300,000.

Important numbers

• Five-year planning figure around $384,000 per missile
• Early Navy weapon-and-container package around $467,000
• Reported high-volume production goal below $300,000

What you’re buying

Blackbeard is a hypersonic strike weapon developed by Castelion with an emphasis on producing large quantities at a much lower unit price than earlier U.S. hypersonic weapons. The Navy’s Multi-mission Affordable Capacity Effector program is tied to the air-launched Blackbeard path, with integration work centered on carrier aviation. The Army is funding Blackbeard-GL as a ground-launched version. These are related weapons, but their development and procurement accounts should not be mixed into one price.

A procurement contract can also contain storage containers, engineering, software work, flight testing, logistics, certification, manufacturing support, export-related design work, or program management alongside physical missiles, which means dividing every contract value by the number of weapons can produce a misleading unit figure. The distinction is simple. A finished round has a unit cost, while a program contract can pay for much more than that round. Readers comparing Blackbeard with AIM-260 missile spending should use the same cost boundary on both sides.

Blackbeard versus PrSM

Blackbeard’s strongest pricing argument appears when it is compared with larger or older strike systems. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that buying 300 LRHW or Intermediate-Range Conventional Prompt Strike missiles would produce an average procurement cost near $41 million per missile in 2023 dollars. That estimate includes the missile and canister but not all launcher costs. A Blackbeard figure near $400,000 (about 6.4 years of full-time work at $30 per hour) is roughly one-hundredth of that amount.

PrSM provides a closer conventional comparison. FY2027 defense funding includes $15 million for 10 PrSM missiles, which produces simple procurement math of $1.5 million each. Blackbeard still comes in lower using current public figures, but the systems differ in range, launch method, speed, payload, production maturity, and mission. Similar care is needed when comparing Blackbeard with THAAD interceptor pricing or Tomahawk missile costs. A cheaper round is not automatically a substitute for a weapon designed for another mission.

Two Navy purchases

The cleanest early-production datapoint arrived on June 11, 2026. The Navy awarded Castelion a $23.35 million firm-fixed-price order for 50 Early Operational Capability pre-production Blackbeard weapons and 50 storage and shipping containers. Dividing $23.35 million (about 374 years of full-time work at $30 per hour) by 50 gives $467,000 for each missile-and-container package. The contract does not disclose the container price separately, so $467,000 should not be labeled the bare missile manufacturing cost. It is the strongest current package-price calculation from an executed production order.

The FY2027 MACE request points slightly lower. Navy budget reporting calls for $156 million for 353 MACE all-up rounds plus associated production support. Dividing the entire request by 353 gives about $441,926, commonly rounded to $442,000. Because that funding also covers production engineering, logistics, and program management, the missile-only amount would be below the gross division if the request is executed as described.

Blackbeard cost measure	Published money	Calculated amount
Five-year planning figure	Program planning data	About $384,000 each
June 2026 Navy order	$23.35 million for 50 weapons and containers	$467,000 per package
FY2027 MACE request	$156 million for 353 rounds plus support	About $442,000 gross
Mature-production goal	High-rate target	Below $300,000

Development, ground launch

Missile procurement is only one part of Blackbeard spending. The Navy awarded Castelion $49.998 million in February 2026 for full-scale prototypes, flight testing, operational fielding, development, integration, and Early Operational Capability work. In April, another $104.999 million modification funded final EOC requirements, test configurations, integration, and live-fire events. On August 25, a third $89.997 million order added engineering, technical, logistics, manufacturing, exportability, and development of 50 EOC weapons. Those three actions total about $244.994 million. That is not a unit price.

The Army’s ground-launch program adds another $170 million in FY2027 development funding, combining $130 million for Blackbeard-GL development and testing with $40 million in Army hypersonics work. Castelion is also putting private money into production. Its August financing announcement says Project Ranger has already received more than $250 million in private infrastructure spending, alongside a new $1 billion financing round supporting Blackbeard production and other systems.

Three Blackbeard prices

Early-production buyer

The Navy’s first clear production buyer sees a package price of about $467,000. That comes from the 50-weapon June order and includes one storage and shipping container for every missile. The main cost driver is the early-production package rather than a mature bare-round price.

Budget planner

A FY2027 planner sees about $442,000 when the $156 million MACE request is divided across 353 all-up rounds. The calculation includes support spending, so it works as a gross lot measure rather than a factory-floor missile figure. The larger quantity also places the program closer to sustained production.

High-volume buyer

A future high-rate customer is looking toward a reported production goal below $300,000 per round. At exactly $300,000, the round would be about 35.8% below the early $467,000 package calculation. The Department’s production framework calls for at least 500 Blackbeards annually after successful testing, with authority being pursued for more than 12,000 missiles across five years. The lower figure remains a production objective rather than a current universal contract rate.

What the missile price leaves out

A per-round figure does not capture the full cost of putting Blackbeard into service. F/A-18 integration requires hardware and software work, flight testing, safety certification, carrier-storage clearance, live-fire events, logistics, training support, and production engineering. Ground-launched Blackbeard needs its own integration and testing path. Export versions can add design changes. Storage and shipping containers also appear as separate deliverables in the first production order.

Manufacturing capacity has another balance sheet. Project Ranger is intended to support thousands of missiles a year, and private factory spending is designed to lower future production prices rather than appear on each Navy invoice as a separate line item. That makes Blackbeard unusual among hypersonic programs because large private capital commitments sit beside government-funded integration and procurement.

Worked Blackbeard procurement

Start with the June Navy order. The government pays $23.35 million for 50 weapons and 50 containers. Dividing $23.35 million by 50 gives $467,000 per weapon-and-container package. Now compare that result with the FY2027 MACE request. Dividing $156 million by 353 gives about $441,926, or roughly $442,000 for each budgeted round before separating production-support costs.

The difference between the two gross calculations is about $25,074 per unit. Relative to the $467,000 early package figure, that is about 5.4% lower. The arithmetic is useful because both figures come from identified quantities, but it does not prove manufacturing alone created the reduction. Containers, production engineering, logistics, contract structure, quantity, and accounting treatment differ between the two purchases. A later price below $300,000 would require another reduction of roughly $142,000 from the current $442,000 budget division.

What we checked

• Checked Castelion’s February contract announcement against the government development award.
• Confirmed Castelion’s April Navy announcement for F/A-18 integration and Blackbeard testing work.
• Cross-referenced the Pentagon production framework for the minimum annual Blackbeard procurement plan after testing.

Article Highlights

• Current public Blackbeard procurement math clusters around $384,000 to $467,000 per missile or package.
• The June 2026 order works out to about $467,000 for each weapon and container.
• The FY2027 MACE request works out to roughly $442,000 before separating support spending.
• The reported mature-production goal is below $300,000.
• Three major 2026 Navy development and fielding actions total about $244.994 million.
• Blackbeard-GL carries another $170 million in FY2027 development funding.

Answers to Common Questions

How much does one Blackbeard hypersonic missile cost?

Current public procurement evidence points to roughly $384,000 to $467,000, depending on the contract and what is included. A clean universal missile-only price has not been published.

Why does the Navy’s first Blackbeard order work out to $467,000?

The Navy paid $23.35 million for 50 pre-production weapons plus 50 storage and shipping containers. Dividing the contract by 50 gives $467,000 per combined package.

Will Blackbeard eventually cost less than $300,000?

That is a reported high-volume production goal. Current executed and budgeted procurement figures remain above $300,000.

Is Blackbeard cheaper than older U.S. hypersonic missiles?

Current Blackbeard figures are far below CBO’s roughly $41 million procurement estimate for an LRHW-class missile, but the weapons differ substantially in size, range, architecture, and mission.