U.S. Army Seeks to Expand Long-Range Hypersonic Arsenal Beyond Dark Eagle.

The U.S. Army is partnering with Anduril Industries, Castelion, and Ursa Major to accelerate development of new hypersonic missile capabilities beyond the Long Range Hypersonic Weapon (Dark Eagle). The move aims to expand both the Army's future strike options and the industrial base needed to rapidly produce advanced weapons at scale.

The initiative signals a shift in the Army's hypersonic acquisition strategy from relying primarily on the Long Range Hypersonic Weapon toward cultivating multiple competing missile designs and suppliers. By bringing defense technology firms Anduril and Castelion together with propulsion specialist Ursa Major, the service hopes to shorten development timelines, encourage innovation, and strengthen domestic manufacturing capacity for next-generation long-range precision strike weapons.

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The central requirement is no longer limited to proving that a ground-launched weapon can exceed Mach 5 and reach a distant target. The Army must also build sufficient inventory to support repeated operations, replace missiles expended during combat, and avoid relying on a small group of established contractors and propulsion suppliers. This distinction between maximum performance and available magazine depth is particularly important for hypersonic weapons, whose complex propulsion, specialized materials, testing requirements, and high production costs have traditionally limited procurement quantities.

Lieutenant General Frank Lozano, the U.S. Army’s Portfolio Acquisition Executive for Fires, described this approach during a Strategic Landpower Dialogue hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the Association of the U.S. Army on July 14, 2026. Lozano said the Army was “actively working” with Castelion, Anduril, and Ursa Major to create greater hypersonic magazine depth and expand the range of capabilities in its inventory. His comments did not identify a new missile program, contract value, procurement quantity, or fielding schedule.

Dark Eagle remains the foundation of the Army’s current hypersonic strike effort. The truck-mounted system uses a two-stage booster to accelerate the Common Hypersonic Glide Body before releasing it to maneuver toward its target at speeds above Mach 5. It is intended to attack time-sensitive, heavily defended, and high-value targets beyond the reach of the Army’s existing tactical missile inventory. Each battery is organized around four transporter-erector-launchers carrying two missiles each, supported by a battery operations center and associated support vehicles.

Development is shared with the U.S. Navy, which plans to employ a common missile and glide body through its Conventional Prompt Strike program. On March 26, 2026, the two services conducted another successful launch of the common hypersonic missile from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. This common architecture can reduce duplicated development work, but it also creates shared dependence on a limited set of boosters, glide bodies, production facilities, and specialized suppliers. Increasing magazine depth therefore requires more than ordering additional Dark Eagle rounds.

Castelion offers the clearest example of an alternative hypersonic weapon supplier. The company is developing Blackbeard around shorter development cycles, frequent flight testing, and production at a scale uncommon among current U.S. hypersonic programs. Castelion has previously secured work connected to Army and Navy integration, although Lozano did not specify whether the latest cooperation concerns Blackbeard, another design, or supporting technologies. The company’s relevance lies in its attempt to deliver a more producible hypersonic weapon rather than another small inventory of exceptionally expensive missiles.

Anduril brings a different combination of missile design and propulsion manufacturing. Its weapons portfolio includes the Barracuda family of lower-cost cruise missiles, while its acquisition of Adranos expanded its position in solid rocket motors. Anduril has also conducted live-fire testing of large solid-fuel rocket motors intended for advanced missile applications. None of this confirms that the company has been selected to provide the Army with a complete hypersonic missile. It does, however, make Anduril relevant to the propulsion and manufacturing constraints that determine how rapidly a hypersonic inventory can grow.

Ursa Major’s role must be treated separately. The Colorado company is primarily a propulsion supplier rather than a publicly confirmed provider of a complete Army hypersonic weapon. Its work includes liquid and solid rocket propulsion, as well as manufacturing methods intended to accelerate engine production. Cooperation with Ursa Major could therefore address one of the industrial bottlenecks behind missile output without necessarily producing a separate weapon carrying the company’s name. Lozano’s reference to all three companies should not be interpreted as confirmation that the Army plans to acquire three competing missiles.

The operational value of this approach lies in matching weapons to targets and preserving the most capable rounds for missions that require them. Dark Eagle is designed for long-range strikes against defended and time-sensitive objectives. Using a weapon of that class against every target would place immediate pressure on a small and costly inventory. Additional hypersonic designs could potentially provide different combinations of range, payload, launch method, and cost, although the Army has not yet disclosed how it intends to structure such a force.

Magazine depth also affects deterrence. A force possessing only a few hypersonic missiles may be able to conduct an initial strike but could struggle to maintain pressure during an extended campaign. A larger and more resilient supplier network gives the Army more options to replenish stocks, expand production during a crisis, and reduce dependence on individual manufacturing sites. The value of Anduril, Castelion, and Ursa Major may therefore come as much from their production methods and propulsion capacity as from the performance of any individual missile.

The Army’s emerging approach does not replace Dark Eagle, nor does it establish a formal family of hypersonic weapons. It shows that fielding one advanced system is no longer considered sufficient. In the Indo-Pacific, where targets are dispersed across vast distances and adversary missile forces may require repeated attacks, the number of weapons available could become as important as their speed and maximum range. Lozano’s remarks reveal an Army seeking to turn hypersonic strike from a scarce specialist capability into a deeper and more sustainable part of its long-range fires inventory.

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Written By Erwan Halna du Fretay - Defense Analyst, Army Recognition Group
Erwan Halna du Fretay holds a Master’s degree in International Relations and has experience studying conflicts and global arms transfers. His research interests lie in Security and strategic studies, particularly the dynamics of the defense industry, the evolution of military technologies, and the strategic transformation of armed forces.