U.S. Air Force F-16 fighter jet to get hypersonic missile

Hypersonic missile startup Castelion has received a contract modification from the Air Force Research Laboratory to begin integrating its Blackbeard hypersonic weapon onto the F-16 fighter jet, the company announced on Oct. 26, bringing the missile one step closer to the U.S. Air Force after earlier work for the U.S. Navy and U.S. Army.

Castelion did not disclose the value of the modification, how long the integration work will take, or when the first test launch from an F-16 could happen, and the U.S. Air Force has not commented on the award.

“Castelion has been awarded a contract modification to its existing work with the Air Force Research Laboratory to begin Blackbeard integration activities with the F-16. We are grateful to the Air Force for their trust,” the company wrote on X.

Blackbeard is designed to fly faster than Mach 5 while maneuvering inside the atmosphere, which makes it harder to intercept than a ballistic missile on a predictable arc, and Castelion has built the program around producing it cheaply and in large numbers. The company, founded in 2022 by former SpaceX engineers and based in Torrance, California, is building a factory campus in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, aimed at turning out 500 weapons a year.

The Air Force Research Laboratory added $16.4 million to an existing Castelion contract in September, raising its total value to $37.2 million, for work on a low-cost, mass-producible long-range strike weapon running through June 2028. Castelion described the F-16 award as a modification to its existing work with the laboratory, though it did not say whether it falls under that same contract.

The U.S. Navy is furthest along with the weapon. It awarded $105 million in April to integrate Blackbeard onto the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and carry out live-fire testing in the Indo-Pacific, ordered 50 early operational capability weapons in June, and in August awarded nearly $90 million to move Blackbeard toward a formal program of record, including features meant to speed sales to allies. In September, the Navy placed a first production order worth up to $200 million for 444 missiles. The U.S. Army received an integration award in October 2025 for a ground-launched version compatible with the HIMARS rocket launcher.

Putting Blackbeard on the F-16 would give it a launch platform far more common than the Super Hornet. The F-16 remains the most numerous fighter in the U.S. Air Force and flies with more than two dozen other countries, although Castelion has not said whether the integration work covers export versions of the jet.