By Kevin Hendricks, The Paper.
Sandoval County’s hypersonic missile campus is about to scale up fast. Castelion Corporation closed a $1 billion funding round in August and locked in a new Pentagon production contract — both aimed squarely at Project Ranger, the company’s manufacturing site west of Rio Rancho.
The Series C round — $800 million in equity plus a $250 million credit facility — values Castelion at $13 billion. Investors include JPMorganChase’s Strategic Investment Group, Andreessen Horowitz and Carlyle. The company said the money will expand production capacity “at and beyond” the 1,000-acre Project Ranger campus, on top of the $250 million it has already spent building the site.
The company’s thesis is that it can produce mass quantities of the missiles at low cost. The $1 billion in financing will accelerate the scale and production of Blackbeard at the Rio Rancho site.
“Designed in California, built in New Mexico,” said CEO Bryon Hargis, calling Blackbeard proof of a domestic manufacturing “renaissance.”
Pentagon locks in production
A Castelion press release said production of Blackbeard missiles will happen at Project Ranger, and that the company expects to exceed the jobs and investment numbers it originally promised the state. The Defense Department — which the Trump administration calls the Department of War — announced a framework deal guaranteeing at least 500 Blackbeard missiles a year once testing wraps up, with options to extend five years. The Pentagon is also seeking funding to buy more than 12,000 of the missiles over that span, part of a broader “Arsenal of Freedom” push that includes similar deals with Anduril, Leidos and other contractors.
Castelion broke ground on Project Ranger in January after a nationwide site search and months of local debate over safety and noise. The company has said it expects the facility to employ more than 300 people at an average salary of $100,000, generating roughly $650 million in economic activity over a decade.
Castelion has taken Blackbeard from a “clean sheet” design to Pentagon program of record in under four years, according to the company. The company has already secured more than $500 million in U.S. military contracts over the past 18 months.
Learn more or ask a question:
Castelion: castelion.com/contact-us