On Friday, 5 December 2025, the American start-up Castelion Corporation announced that it had received a Series B contract worth 350 million USD from the U.S. Army Contracting Command (ACC) to launch serial production of Blackbeard hypersonic missiles. Earlier, on 24 October of this year, it was reported that the company had received initial funding for integrating the missile with launch platforms for both the U.S. Army and the U.S. Navy.
Photos: Castelion Corporation
The investment funds Altimeter Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners became partners in the contract, with additional participation from Lavrock Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst, First In, Space VC, Cantos, BlueYard, Avenir, Champion Hill, and Interlagos.
The funds will be allocated to support the aforementioned integration, the construction of a production and final assembly facility called Project Ranger (in Sandoval County, New Mexico), and testing of the multi-service platform in 2026.
“Blackbeard helps close America’s hypersonic capability gap against China and Russia,” said Bryon Hargis, CEO and Co-Founder of Castelion. “This funding lets us build fast, test often, and produce at volumes that matter in the real world.”
“Castelion was founded by a special team of SpaceX alumni who, in just 2.5 years, took a clean-sheet hypersonic from concept to 25+ flight tests and major integration contracts,” said Erik Kriessmann, Partner at Altimeter Capital. “We’re leading this round because of what they’ve achieved in record time and so they can rapidly scale production of one of the U.S. Department of War’s most critical capabilities: affordable, mass-produced hypersonics, from hundreds to thousands of missiles per year.”
“Castelion isn’t just building missiles; they’re rebuilding America’s industrial depth,” said Connor Love, Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners. “This team has proven they can move from blank sheet design to hardware under test faster than anyone thought possible.”
“Lavrock invests in critical technologies that strengthen America’s national security, and Castelion is doing exactly that,” said Alex Poulin, Partner at Lavrock Ventures. “Hypersonics only matter if you can build them at scale. Castelion’s team understands that, and they’re engineering a production-ready capability designed for real-world manufacturing and deployment. We’re proud to be early backers of a team focused on delivering capacity, not just concepts.”
“Hypersonic weapons capacity will shape great power competition for generations,” said Katherine Boyle, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz. “China recognized this a decade ago and deployed at scale. Castelion leads America’s arsenal renewal with the speed, cost advantage, and volume at scaled production that our nation demands.”
“Castelion is transforming the economics of our defense industrial base,” said Paul Kwan, Managing Director, General Catalyst. “Modern deterrence demands hypersonic capability at a pace, scale and cost that the U.S. has never seen.”
Castelion Corp. is testing the Blackbeard in the Ground Launch configuration using its own launcher mounted on a heavy Oshkosh LVSR (Logistic Vehicle System Replacement) 10×10 wheeled chassis in the MKR18 variant
On 28 June of this year, information appeared that the U.S. Army had submitted a request for 25 million USD in funding under the FY2026 NDAA defense budget for the Blackbeard Ground Launch (GL) hypersonic missile project for the M142 HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System) multiple-launch rocket launchers and the autonomous CAML (Common Autonomous Multi-Domain Launcher).
For the U.S. Army, under Phase I of the program, Castelion Corporation will deliver a prototype missile to demonstrate the hypersonic weapon concept by conducting a flight demonstration from a modified launch container belonging to the MLRS (Multiple Launch Rocket System) Family of Munitions (MFOM). After the demonstration, Blackbeard GL Minimum Viable Product (MVP) prototypes would be produced along with a non-standard launcher pod.
The Blackbeard Ground Launch hypersonic missiles are intended for engaging moving and fortified targets at medium ranges, at significantly lower unit costs than currently used munitions.
However, the missile is not a replacement for the land-based Dark Eagle LRHW (Long Range Hypersonic Weapon) system, as it will not reach comparable speeds or ranges. The goal of the U.S. Army program is to deliver roughly 80% of the capability of the new-generation Lockheed Martin PrSM (Precision Strike Missile) in its Increment 4 version, but at a significantly reduced unit cost (80% of the PrSM Increment 4 range would mean approx. 800 km — editor’s note — at a minimum speed of Mach 5).
This will allow for a conceptual test of the baseline Blackbeard GL project at the beginning of FY2026, with a production-prototype test planned for 2027. Initial deliveries to the U.S. Army, currently for M142 HIMARS, are planned for FY2028.
It is worth noting that Castelion Corp. raised 100 million USD earlier this year and is focusing on developing a low-cost hypersonic missile launched from air and ground platforms for engaging surface targets. The start-up employs around 80–100 people, and key managerial and operational positions are held by individuals previously associated with SpaceX, Raytheon (part of RTX Corporation), and others.
Details regarding the U.S. Navy’s order, such as which platform will be used to test the missile, are not known. However, there are indications that it may be an airborne platform: on 26 February 2024, the Office of Naval Research (ONR) awarded Castelion Corp. a contract worth under 3 million USD to assess the feasibility of integrating unspecified air-launched weaponry for striking surface targets (although it cannot be ruled out that this is a separate project — editor’s note). Previously, the U.S. Navy had shown interest in the HALO (Hypersonic Air-Launched Offensive Anti-Surface) hypersonic anti-ship missile, on which RTX and Lockheed Martin had been working.
We’re pleased to share that we’ve closed a $350M Series B to mass-produce U.S. hypersonic weapons and help close America’s deterrence gap.
This round is fuel to build, test, and produce at the pace modern national security demands.https://t.co/KZqnTgXhbI pic.twitter.com/Pw5npg40UN
— Castelion (@CastelionCorp) December 5, 2025
@CastelionCorp is proud to be at @ReaganInstitute's #RNDF alongside senior defense leaders. Co-founder & CEO @hargsb is attending as we play our part in revitalizing the U.S. industrial base and building hypersonic systems that support our nation’s defense. pic.twitter.com/1e1C8k5i4k
— Castelion (@CastelionCorp) December 6, 2025
Months ahead of schedule, earthwork has begun at Project Ranger. Urgency is the only correct response to this moment in history. pic.twitter.com/vmwnBf8oqt
— Castelion (@CastelionCorp) November 26, 2025
