Contract Awards
02/27/2026
Reading time: 2 min
Castelion Awarded $49.9M Navy Contract to Advance Blackbeard Hypersonic Strike Weapon
Castelion announced today that the U.S. Navy awarded $49,998,005 to advance Blackbeard from prototype to integrated, early operational capability. Work will be performed in Torrance, California and is expected to be completed in November 2027. The Blackbeard contract award supports the U.S. Navy’s strategy to pursue new approaches to quickly move capability to the Fleet while maintaining operational rigor.
Blackbeard, Castelion’s first product, is engineered for mass production and rapid fielding from inception. The system leverages vertically integrated propulsion and guidance subsystems to achieve performance at a fraction of the cost of legacy weapons, supporting the Department of War’s objective of building credible, nonnuclear deterrent capacity at scale.
TORRANCE, Calif. — February 26, 2026 — Castelion announced today that the U.S. Navy awarded $49,998,005 to advance Blackbeard from prototype to integrated, early operational capability. Work will be performed in Torrance, California and is expected to be completed in November 2027. The Blackbeard contract award supports the U.S. Navy’s strategy to pursue new approaches to quickly move capability to the Fleet while maintaining operational rigor.
“Delivering hypersonic capability to support the warfighter is what drives this team,” said Bryon Hargis, CEO and Co-Founder of Castelion. “We recognize the trust the Department of War has placed in our team and remain focused on maintaining a sense of urgency to deliver on our commitments.”
Blackbeard, Castelion’s first product, is engineered for mass production and rapid fielding from inception. The system leverages vertically integrated propulsion and guidance subsystems to achieve performance at a fraction of the cost of legacy weapons, supporting the Department of War’s objective of building credible, nonnuclear deterrent capacity at scale.
This contract is the latest in of series of Army and Navy platform integration awards for Blackbeard. Castelion recently invested $220 million of its own capital in Project Ranger, a 1,000-acre manufacturing campus in Sandoval County, New Mexico purpose-built for scale. When complete, it will be the largest dedicated hypersonic production facility in the United States, capable of producing thousands of Blackbeard missiles annually. All 21 planned structures are expected to be operational by end of 2026.
About Castelion
Castelion builds American hypersonic deterrence through rapid, affordable, and scalable production of advanced strike weapons. Blackbeard is the first U.S. hypersonic system engineered from inception for industrial-rate output, commercial unit cost, and continuous flight test iteration. The company is headquartered in Torrance, California, with manufacturing operations in New Mexico, Texas, and California. For more information on Castelion, please visit www.castelion.com.
Modern Defense Production.
###
Media Inquiries:
[email protected]
Related News
Castelion Moves Blackbeard into Production with U.S. Navy Order Valued Up to $200 Million
Castelion today announced a production delivery order from the U.S. Navy, with a total value of up to $200 million, to manufacture, assemble, test, and deliver an initial lot of Blackbeard Hypersonic Weapons to the fleet. Awarded by Portfolio Acquisition Executive Aviation (PAE(A)) through its Future Capability Development and Integration Aviation Rapid Capabilities Cell, these rounds will follow the 50 Early Operational Capability (EOC) weapons ordered in June of this year.
U.S. Navy Awards Castelion $90M to Advance Blackbeard to Early Operational Capability
Castelion has been awarded an $89,997,162 firm-fixed-price order from the U.S. Navy to advance Blackbeard hypersonic strike weapon to Early Operational Capability (EOC). The award is building on Castelion’s prior work regarding “Low Cost Highly Manufacturable Long Range Strike Weapon Production.”
U.S. Navy Awards Castelion First Delivery Order for Blackbeard Hypersonic Weapon
Castelion has been awarded a $23.4M firm-fixed-price order from the U.S. Navy for the production and delivery of 50 Blackbeard early operational capability pre-production prototypes and 50 associated storage and shipping containers. Award marks first delivery of low-cost hypersonic strike weapons to the Navy