The United States Navy has selected Blackbeard, a hypersonic missile developed by defense startup Castelion, for their Multi-mission Affordable Capacity Effector (MACE) program. On February 25, the US Navy announced that Castelion had been awarded a $49,998,005 firm-fixed-price order for “full-scale prototypes, flight testing, and operational fielding to continue to expedite the Blackbeard Hypersonic Weapons development, integration, testing, and early operational capability”. Axios subsequently reported that Blackbeard would “fly aboard an F/A-18 in the near future”. Defense Archives reached out to the Navy regarding the contract award and was informed that it was related to the MACE effort.
The MACE program was first revealed in a February 2024 Naval Air Systems Command Request For Information. The requirement was for an “air-launched weapon with adequate stand-off ranges to provide desired lethality without exposing manned platforms to significant survivability risks”. Mandatory system requirements specified a range that is “complimentary” to the AGM-158C LRASM (Long Range Anti-Ship Missile), which has an unclassified range of over 370km, the same as AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM), however LRASM is actually a derivative of JASSM-ER, with a 925km range. Desired requirements stipulated that MACE be “compatible with carriage on F/A-18E/F, as the threshold platform” & “designed for internal carriage of 4 AURs in F-35A/C to enable future integration”, have a 75lb warhead, terminal guidance to capable of detecting moving targets, a unit cost of under $300,000 per All Up Round (AUR) at a minimum production capacity of 500 AURs per year, with Early Operational Capability by Fiscal Year 2027.
The MACE program fell off the radar shortly after the RFI was released, with the Navy not publishing any information on it until 16 months later. Largely unnoticed, in their FY 2026 Research, Development, Test & Evaluation budget request, the Navy added MACE as a New Start project to their Precision Strike Weapons Development Program, with a description identical to that of the RFI. At that time the intended contract vehicle was an Other Transaction Authority, with the overall acquisition strategy described as follows:
MACE will leverage significant U.S. Government and industry investment to minimize program propulsion system development timelines and cost. Similarly, MACE will integrate high-maturity subsystems and payloads to provide a modular pathway to address multiple mission areas. The maturity of technologies and investments to date will support a rapid transition to a program of record in FY 2026, minimize the development timeline, and accelerate entry into production.
$106 million was budgeted for the project, of which $60 million was for the still unidentified prime contractor to develop the missile’s airframe, including “development and integration of subsystems into All Up Round (AURs) (to include propulsion system, guidance system, control actuator system, payload integration, communications/radio systems, and software development).” Responsibility for warhead integration was assigned to the government. Key milestones identified were January 2026 for award of the airframe contract, and November 2025 for award of the aircraft integration contract. Castelion announced on Oct 24, 2025 that they had received integration contracts from both the US Army & US Navy, so the project is moving mostly according to schedule. All development activities are expected to conclude this fiscal year, with the aforementioned transition to a program of record.
Adding lower cost munitions to the US military’s arsenal has become a priority for both Congress and the Pentagon, and this is reflected in the Fiscal Year 2026 Defense Appropriations Act. Following it’s passage in February, a number of such programs, including MACE, received Congressional funding increases above the budget request. MACE received an additional $140 million, more than doubling its base funding amount. Congress’ specific intent for those funds is unknown, but the US Navy’s FY 2026 Unfunded Priorities List reveals what it will likely be spent on. In their request for $100 million in additional funds, they stated that it would accelerate development and fund 50 more test articles. MACE was also described as “an advanced, low-cost, hypersonic air-to-surface missile designed to be deployed from US Navy fixed-wing aircraft, such as the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet with a higher payload capacity per aircraft than any other developmental hypersonic weapon.”
The program increases don’t stop there though. MACE has also received additional mandatory funding from the reconciliation bill passed last year, in the amount of $133 million. $44 million of this will go towards procurement of long-lead time items in support of the first AUR production lot, and $89 million to “complete vendor development, government integration costs, Naval Ordnance Safety and Security Activit/Weapon Systems Explosives Safety Review Board certifications and range/flights in support of minimum EOC configuration.” It would also expand “EOC flight test/integration activity to enable expanded flight envelope and additional carriage capacity on F/A-18E/F” and advance the IOC contract award date to accelerate the certification of the full flight envelope from FY 2028 to FY 2027. Boeing is expected to receive a contract modification in Q2 FY 2027 for their part of the integration activities for the expanded envelop.
In sum, $379 million will be spent on MACE development & procurement this fiscal year. An additional $25 million is being spent by the Army to develop Blackbeard Ground Launch for use on the M142 HIMARS & Common Autonomous Multi-Domain Launcher (CAML) platforms. In a recent hearing on low cost munitions held by the Senate Armed Services Committee, Lieutenant General Lozano, Portfolio Acquisition Executive for Fires, specifically highlighted Castelion, and noted that they had executed 25 of their own test events over the last year. The Navy, for their part, suggested that MACE is on track to be fielded at scale by 2027 at the $300,000 price point. The fact that both the Army & Navy will be buying the same basic design provides a considerable economy of scale. Castelion has also invested $220 million of its own capital in Project Ranger, a 1,000-acre manufacturing campus in Sandoval County, New Mexico. The facility is expected to be largely operational by the end of the year and will have production capacity for thousands of Blackbeard missiles annually.
Preliminary overviews of the Pentagon’s FY 2027 budget request for both Procurement and Research programs reveal that further increases in spending are planned. The program element in the Navy’s research budget containing MACE, the Precision Strike Weapons Development Program, receives $207 million. $123 million is allocated to the Army’s Hypersonics research program element containing Blackbeard Ground Launched. The Navy also plans to begin serial procurement of MACE, with $156 million in mandatory (reconciliation) funds allocated for 353 missiles. This equates to a total cost of $442,000 per missile, which would be consistent with a marginal unit cost of around $300,000. An exact breakdown of costs and full program details will become available on April 21, when the full budget request is released.
Note: Castelion did not respond to Defense Archives’ requests for comment.