By Mike Stone

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Defense startup Castelion said on Friday it has won contracts to integrate its Blackbeard hypersonic strike weapon with current U.S. Army systems, the first step toward allowing the military to place the powerful and nearly unstoppable weapons around the world.

The U.S. and China are engaged in an arms race to develop the most lethal hypersonic weapons, which travel in the upper atmosphere at more than five times the speed of sound and are designed to evade traditional defenses.

Castelion will work with the Army to incorporate the Blackbeard weapon system onto operational platforms like the Army’s High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS).

HIMARS is now a widely recognized weapon after footage from the war in Ukraine showed the launchers in acti

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