Castelion wants Blackbeard missiles made at New Mexico factory in 2026
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A Castelion flight test in October, near Mojave, California. Photo: Courtesy of Castelion
Hypersonic missile-maker Castelion anticipates pumping out Blackbeard munitions at its to-be-built New Mexico factory as soon as 2026, with the ultimate goal of producing thousands per year, according to CEO Bryon Hargis.
Why it matters: "If you want to achieve deterrence, you have to make a lot of munitions," he told Axios on the sidelines of the Reagan National Defense Forum in California.
- "It's not suitable to just have high-capability munitions, which is what the country's done a very good job of to date."
Driving the news: The young company has made two splashy announcements in the span of weeks:
- A $350 million Series B, led by Altimeter Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners. (Other backers include Lavrock Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz and General Catalyst.)
- Project Ranger, a 1,000-acre plant in Rio Rancho, outside of Albuquerque. A second footprint is also under consideration elsewhere.
"Project Ranger is all about scaling out an enormous production capacity," Hargis, a former SpaceX national security executive, said. "We ordered the steel buildings for the site — like 20-plus buildings — six months before we even had the site. We're going as fast as possible to make it happen."
Zoom in: The Blackbeard missile has undergone more than 20 developmental test flights; Castelion conducted a trial just days ago. And the company earlier this year won contracts for Army and Navy integration.
- "If you're going to field, if you're going to have that deterrent effect, you have to be integrated into what the rest of the U.S. has," Hargis said.
- "It has to launch from something to get there. It has to be in the supply chain."
Threat level: The U.S. hypersonic arsenal trails those of China and Russia. And much has been said about woefully small weapons stockpiles — and just how quickly they'd be expended in a real fight in the Indo-Pacific or Europe.
- "For Blackbeard, being a medium-range hypersonic weapon, the country has never built anything like this at any kind of scale," Hargis said.
What we're watching: If the Pentagon's hunger (read: budget) matches Castelion's aggression.
