The U.S. Navy has released new video showing Castelion’s Blackbeard hypersonic strike weapon mounted under an F/A-18E/F Super Hornet during flight testing. The footage provides the clearest public look yet at the air-launched system on the carrier-based fighter and shows two weapons installed under the wing as the Navy advances a lower-cost strike option for naval aviation.
The imagery follows earlier hints of integration seen in August and appears to show the programme moving beyond static fit checks into captive-carry testing. Blackbeard is being developed under the Navy’s Multi-mission Affordable Capacity Effector effort, which is aimed at delivering a faster-to-produce, lower-cost long-range strike weapon for carrier air wings. Public reporting also indicates the Navy has been funding integration and flight-test work with Castelion as it pushes the system towards early operational capability later this decade.
The video does not identify when or where the footage was recorded, and it shows carriage rather than a launch. Full performance details, including whether the aircraft carried out powered flight testing, have not been disclosed.