> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.battlepolicy.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Castelion - URL: https://www.battlepolicy.com/castelion/ - Published: 2026-06-17T20:28:17.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-05T01:40:20.000Z - Description: Castelion builds low-cost, mass-producible hypersonic strike missiles engineered for industrial-rate output, targeting U.S. Air Force, Navy, and Army requirements. - Author: Marcus Schuler - Tags: #dossier FILE · castelionOpen-source file · BattlePolicy ProStatus PrivateVerified Castelion Energetics/MunitionsUSPrivate Castelion builds low-cost, mass-producible hypersonic strike missiles engineered for industrial-rate output, targeting U.S. Air Force, Navy, and Army requirements. Founded 2022 HQ Torrance, CAEl Segundo also cited in earlier sources Headcount 80–100 (early 2025 reporting); 51–200 LinkedIn estimate Total raised \~$494M Valuation \~$2.8BCaplight, mid-2026 Stage Series BDec 2025 ### Background Castelion was founded in 2022 in Southern California by three former SpaceX engineers: Bryon Hargis (CEO), Sean Pitt (COO), and Andrew Kreitz (CFO). The trio applied SpaceX-style iterative development and manufacturing philosophy to hypersonic weapons, a domain previously dominated by cost-plus primes with decade-long timelines. The company's flagship system is Blackbeard, billed as the first U.S. hypersonic weapon explicitly designed for commercial unit cost and continuous flight-test iteration rather than one-off demonstration. A ground-launch variant, Blackbeard GL, is under development for the U.S. Army's Project HX3\. The broader product thesis centers on industrial-rate output — producing hypersonic strike missiles at volumes and price points legacy primes have not demonstrated. Castelion sells directly to U.S. military services through government contracts and AFRL/NAVAIR grant mechanisms. Headcount was reported at 80–100 employees in early 2025, with LinkedIn estimates placing the team in the 51–200 band as of mid-2026. ### Linked records Wired to the rest of BattlePolicy — the systems it builds in the Lexicon and the contracts it wins in the Procurement Tracker. Every link below is a record in our own datasets. ⌖ Lexicon — systems - [Blackbeard hypersonic (first Navy production order, Castelion)](https://www.battlepolicy.com/castelion-lands-its-first-navy-production-order-for-the-blackbeard-hypersonic/)profile ⌖ Procurement — contracts - [United States — Blackbeard hypersonic (first Navy production order, Castelion)](https://www.battlepolicy.com/castelion-lands-its-first-navy-production-order-for-the-blackbeard-hypersonic/)signed ⌖ Analysis — coverage - [The Pentagon Gave Missile Makers 21 Days. Only Some of Them Could Answer.](https://www.battlepolicy.com/the-pentagon-gave-missile-makers-21-days-only-some-of-them-could-answer/)analysis ### Financial footing - $350M Series B (Dec 2025; valuation unconfirmed — "$2.8B" was unsourced) - Navy Blackbeard \~$49.9M (Feb 2026) + $105M F/A-18 integration (Apr 2026) - **Backers:** Lightspeed, Andreessen Horowitz Castelion raised \*\*$1 billion in Series C in August 2026 at a $13 billion valuation\*\*, a step change from roughly $2.8 billion after the $350 million Series B of December 2025. The company said the capital funds maximum production rate for Blackbeard plus two further weapon lines. The earlier ladder: an undisclosed Series A led by Lightspeed with a16z, Lavrock, Cantos, First In, BlueYard and Interlagos; $100 million in combined debt and equity announced January 2025, including $30 million of venture debt from Silicon Valley Bank; then the Series B with Pritzker Group among reported participants. No revenue has been disclosed. The valuation rests on contracted development work and a Pentagon procurement framework rather than deliveries — Castelion has not yet fielded an operational weapon, which makes $13 billion a bet on a production ramp that has not happened. ### Major customers & contracts Joined live from the [Procurement & Contracts Tracker](https://www.battlepolicy.com/procurement/) — real award/announcement records. | Customer | System | Scale / detail | Status | | ------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ------ | | United States | Blackbeard hypersonic (first Navy production order, Castelion) | 50 early operational capability pre-production prototypes and 50 storage and shipping containers | signed | Further disclosed customers & programs (public reporting): The U.S. Navy is the primary customer and moved decisively in August 2026, awarding an \*\*$89,997,162 firm-fixed-price order on 25 August\*\* to advance Blackbeard to Early Operational Capability, plus a separate \*\*$23.4 million\*\* order for 50 pre-production prototypes and containers. Those follow a \*\*$105 million\*\* contract for F/A-18 integration targeting EOC in \*\*2027\*\*, and an earlier \~$49.9 million NAVAIR award reported in February 2026. The \*\*U.S. Army\*\* funds a parallel surface-launched variant, with $25 million in the FY2026 budget request under Project HX3 for Blackbeard GL. The Air Force Research Laboratory has supported the underlying hypersonic work. The number that matters most is a Pentagon plan disclosed in May 2026 contemplating procurement of roughly \*\*12,000 Blackbeard missiles\*\* over several years, with a ramp of at least 500 a year once testing completes. The air/surface split is not public, and none of it is a binding bulk buy yet. ### Leadership & contact surface **Leadership:** Bryon Hargis **Official site:** [https://www.castelion.com](https://www.castelion.com/?ref=battlepolicy.com) **Contact policy.** BattlePolicy maps roles and official, published channels only — who owns a decision and the front door — never individuals’ personal phone numbers, private emails or home details. This keeps the file GDPR-clean and welcome to the companies we profile. ### Competitive position Against Lockheed Martin and Raytheon — the incumbent hypersonic primes behind LRHW and HAWC — Castelion's edge is unit-cost discipline and iteration speed; its weakness is the absence of a fielded system and the institutional relationships primes leverage for large program-of-record awards. Against Anduril, which competes across autonomous systems and strike with significant DoD backing, Castelion is more narrowly focused on hypersonic propulsion and airframe; Anduril has a broader customer base and larger headcount but has not fielded a hypersonic system. Against Hermeus, which targets hypersonic aircraft rather than strike missiles, Castelion operates in a more directly weaponized market with earlier military contract traction. Against Northrop Grumman's hypersonic programs, Castelion lacks manufacturing scale but moves faster through flight-test cycles. The market structure remains early-stage: DoD is deliberately seeding multiple vendors to break prime dependency, which benefits Castelion in the near term but creates a crowded field once programs of record consolidate. ### Battlefield relevance Blackbeard has no combat record, and the honest status is integration rather than employment. The clearest evidence to date is a photograph shown at a Navy future-missiles briefing during the August 2026 Tailhook convention, showing two Blackbeard test articles mounted under the right wing of an \*\*F/A-18E/F Super Hornet\*\*. That establishes hardware integration has moved past drawings, requirements and ground-launch experimentation onto a carrier-capable aircraft. What it does not establish — and reporting is explicit about this — is whether Blackbeard has been \*\*fired\*\* from an aircraft. No captive-carry or live-launch event has been publicly confirmed. Early Operational Capability is targeted for 2027 on the air-launched path. For a company valued at $13 billion on a hypersonic strike weapon, the distance between "mounted on a Super Hornet" and "launched from one" is the entire remaining risk. ### Sources & verification - [https://labusinessjournal.com/la500-2026/technology-2026/la500-2026-andrew-kreitz/](https://labusinessjournal.com/la500-2026/technology-2026/la500-2026-andrew-kreitz/?ref=battlepolicy.com) - [https://techfundingnews.com/hypersonic-missile-startup-funding-castelion/](https://techfundingnews.com/hypersonic-missile-startup-funding-castelion/?ref=battlepolicy.com) - [https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250129937934/en/Castelion-Announces-100M-Financing](https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250129937934/en/Castelion-Announces-100M-Financing?ref=battlepolicy.com) - [https://www.caplight.com/company/castelion](https://www.caplight.com/company/castelion?ref=battlepolicy.com) - [https://www.linkedin.com/posts/space-insider\_castelion-a-defense-manufacturer-based-in-activity-7290790898051801089-4\_jT](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/space-insider%5Fcastelion-a-defense-manufacturer-based-in-activity-7290790898051801089-4%5FjT?ref=battlepolicy.com) - [https://www.cbinsights.com/company/pallas-industries](https://www.cbinsights.com/company/pallas-industries?ref=battlepolicy.com) - [https://www.castelion.com/news/series-b/](https://www.castelion.com/news/series-b/?ref=battlepolicy.com) - [https://www.builtinla.com/articles/castelion-raises-350m-series-b-20251208](https://www.builtinla.com/articles/castelion-raises-350m-series-b-20251208?ref=battlepolicy.com) - [https://startupintros.com/orgs/castelion](https://startupintros.com/orgs/castelion?ref=battlepolicy.com) - [https://www.linkedin.com/company/castelion](https://www.linkedin.com/company/castelion?ref=battlepolicy.com) - [https://www.nasdaqprivatemarket.com/company/castelion/](https://www.nasdaqprivatemarket.com/company/castelion/?ref=battlepolicy.com) - - [https://equityzen.com/company/pallas4707/](https://equityzen.com/company/pallas4707/?ref=battlepolicy.com) - [https://www.castelion.com](https://www.castelion.com/?ref=battlepolicy.com) - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaXzkKRJOLI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaXzkKRJOLI&ref=battlepolicy.com) ### Analyst verdict Pro ⌖ Analyst note · BattlePolicy assessment — judgment, not reporting Castelion's proposition is cost discipline applied to a category that has resisted it. Lockheed's LRHW and the HAWC lineage produced exquisite, scarce weapons; Castelion is selling a hypersonic strike missile cheap enough to buy in thousands, and the Pentagon's contemplated 12,000-round framework indicates the customer believes the pitch. The August 2026 Navy awards are the meaningful validation — $90 million to reach Early Operational Capability and $23.4 million for 50 pre-production rounds is the transition from study money to hardware money, and the F/A-18 photograph confirms physical integration. Our reservation is the gap between valuation and demonstrated performance. A $13 billion mark on a weapon with no confirmed air launch prices a successful ramp that has not begun; the 500-a-year rate and the 12,000-missile total are contingent on test completion, not contracted. Watch three things: a confirmed live launch from the Super Hornet, which converts the thesis from plausible to proven; whether the Army's surface-launched HX3 path is funded beyond $25 million; and whether the 12,000-unit framework becomes a binding multi-year buy rather than a planning figure.