It is reported that the US Army has requested the allocation of $25 million in the budget for fiscal year 2026 for the integration of a promising high-precision "inexpensive" hypersonic operational-tactical (and in fact, medium-range) Blackbeard GL (Ground Launch) ground launch missile, developed by the American founded in 2022, into the HIMARS missile system. the startup Castelion from Silicon Valley (California). Earlier in the 2024 fiscal year, $118.734 million was allocated from the US Army budget for the development of this missile.
An image distributed by the American company Castelion is believed to be of a prototype demonstrator of the promising Blackbeard GL operational and tactical missile and a prototype launcher of the promising universal ground-based Autonomous Multi-Domain Launcher (CAML) (c) Castelion
Castelion conducted the first flight test of the Blackbeard GL rocket prototype on March 9, 2024, and has since conducted a significant number of test launches, according to media reports. In early 2025, it was reported that the startup had attracted $100 million from investors in the form of borrowed funds and equity, and, in addition to contracts with the US Army, it has contracts with the US Air Force and Navy.
The characteristics of the Blackbeard GL solid-fuel rocket have not been disclosed, however, the developer states that the missile should allegedly provide "80% of the capabilities" of the new American Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) in the advanced Increment 4 version, at a significantly lower cost. These very "capabilities" of the PrSM Increment 4 are also very questionable so far, but it is believed that the PrSM Increment 4 will have a firing range well in excess of 1000 km.
It is claimed that the Blackbeard GL missile will have a homing head for high-precision destruction and is designed to destroy both moving and stationary protected targets. The Blackbeard GL missile is housed in an All Up Round and Canister (AUR+C) modular universal transport and launch container developed by Castelion and should form the basis of the Autonomous Multi-Domain Launcher (CAML), a promising universal ground-based missile system being developed by the US Army, which is supposed to replace the HIMARS missile system. According to the published photos and videos, the prototype of the optional unpowered CAML launcher is made on an Oshkosh 10x10 automobile chassis and has four AUR+C containers, but it is unclear whether this appearance is final.
Now the US Army as a transitional solution in the budget for 2026 fin. The company requests the allocation of $25 million for the integration of AUR+C transport and launch containers into the HIMARS missile system currently in service (using MFOM system containers for standard HIMARS and MLRS missiles) within the framework of the NH3 project. Tests of Blackbeard GL missiles as part of HIMARS are expected to begin in 2026. this year, with the start of deliveries of serial missiles in 2028 fin. year.
Castelion itself reports that in May 2023 and October 2024 it received the first contracts from the US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) for "demonstrating new approaches to the development of low-cost strike weapons." In August 2023, the company conducted the first bench tests of an innovative 12-inch (305 mm) diameter solid rocket engine of its own design based on new technologies for mixing solid rocket fuels, and from November 2023 to February 2024, it conducted five launches of experimental rockets with this engine, which, apparently, is the engine of the Blackbeard rocket. The Blackbeard missile is probably being developed initially in the air-to-surface aviation variant, and the ground-based Blackbeard GL variant was created on its basis.
Test launch of one of the prototypes of the Castelion Blackbeard GL rocket at the test site in the Mojave Desert (California), 2024 (c) Castelion
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An image, presumably, of a prototype prototype launcher of a promising universal ground-based Autonomous Multi-Domain Launcher (CAML) missile system with promising Blackbeard GL (c) Castelion tactical missiles
