US Navy releases first images of Blackbeard hypersonic missile

The US Navy has released the first images of a new air-launched hypersonic missile it calls Blackbeard. Footage published on 25 September shows two of the all-black weapons mounted on the inner-wing stations of a Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornet, either side of the centreline. The two-seat fighter carries the "SD" tail code of Air Test and Evaluation Squadron 23, known as VX-23. While the missiles are attached, the jet performs at least one aerobatic manoeuvre, an aileron roll. The service presented this as a sign of how far the test programme has progressed.

According to the navy, Blackbeard is designed to give carrier-based strike fighters a long-range, high-speed strike option against targets at sea and on land. It is intended to be responsive and to improve survivability against advanced air defences while adding to the number of weapons a fighter can carry. The missile is meant to exceed Mach 5.

The navy has not said whether Blackbeard will also be compatible with the other carrier-capable strike fighter in service, the Lockheed Martin F-35C. The programme that produced the weapon, the Multi-Mission Affordable Capacity Effector effort, had originally called for it to be sized so that four could be carried internally by the F-35.

A production contract worth up to $200 million was awarded last week to Castelion, a California startup. The navy says the money covers manufacture, assembly, testing and delivery of the first production lot of 444 all-up round missile assemblies, each a fully functional tactical missile in a specialised shipping and storage container. Few other details of the service's plans for Blackbeard have been confirmed.