Castelion, valued at $13 billion, wins Navy hypersonic missile contract

Founded in 2022 by Bryon Hargis, Andrew Kreitz and Sean Pitt, Castelion started with a pitch to the Pentagon's Defense Innovation Unit, where the founders said they would compete with Lockheed Martin on affordable hypersonics. The pitch drew laughter. Despite early struggles Hargis used his retirement to fund living expenses the company eventually attracted investment from Andreessen Horowitz and now holds more than $500 million in U.S. government contracts.

Hypersonic missiles travel at at least Mach 5 and are maneuverable, making them hard to track. The U.S. has spent billions on research but has not fully fielded a hypersonic missile of its own, while China and Russia have. The war in Iran has exposed a grim reality: the U.S. is firing missiles faster than it can replace them, by an order of years.

Castelion's Blackbeard can be made for less than $500,000 each, far cheaper than Tomahawks, which can cost millions each. Successful test flights on F/A-18 Super Hornets have been completed. The company is developing a 1,000-acre site in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, that could eventually turn out thousands of Blackbeards annually. Some local residents have reportedly balked at a missile factory, and the company has held regular community meetings.

Blackbeard's designation as a program of record puts it in direct competition with Lockheed's Dark Eagle, an Army hypersonic program that started in 2017 and is reportedly three years behind schedule. An Army spokesperson said Dark Eagle has deployed in support of Indo-Pacific exercises and completed successful flight-test events.

Castelion has grown from 159 employees at the end of 2025 to more than 400. The company's CFO, Andrew Kreitz, said the capability is needed now and that the company must sprint directly at what the country needs. CEO Bryon Hargis argued that hypersonics give the U.S. a credible deterrent, something between economic sanctions and nuclear war. He pushed back against the common criticism that building weapons facilitates war, saying that to deter someone, they must feel there is a consequence.

The founders are aware their weapons could be used for their intended purpose; Kreitz said they mean it when they say deterrence works.