Defense technology leader Castelion officially announced it has secured a monumental $350 million in Castelion Series B funding. The massive capital infusion will fuel the development of its flagship hypersonic weapon, Blackbeard, and significantly ramp up domestic manufacturing capabilities. Led by key investors Altimeter Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners, this investment round accelerates the company’s mission to close critical capability gaps in U.S. defense technology.
Expanding Hypersonic Production
Castelion allocates the substantial funding towards expanding its workforce and boosting its manufacturing capacity across the United States. A major focus remains Project Ranger, the company’s 1,000-acre solid rocket motor campus situated in Sandoval County, New Mexico. This facility aims to achieve true mass production, planning to manufacture thousands of Blackbeard missiles annually and projecting over $650 million in economic output within the next decade. The company is actively pursuing a rapid test cadence throughout 2026, which includes complex demonstration flights and integration trials with various operational launch platforms.
Advancing the Blackbeard Program
The defense manufacturer has already completed over 20 development flight tests, successfully validating critical weapon subsystems, including internally manufactured solid rocket motors, advanced seekers, and mission software. The success of these tests demonstrated the maturity of the technology prior to receiving the new Castelion Series B funding.
Crucially, the company has won contracts to integrate the Blackbeard weapon systems onto both U.S. Army and U.S. Navy platforms. Castelion CEO Bryon Hargis emphasized the weapon’s strategic importance, stating that Blackbeard directly addresses the hypersonic capability challenge posed by nations like China and Russia. Hargis confirmed that this funding enables them to “build fast, test often, and produce at volumes that matter in the real world,” ensuring the U.S. maintains its technological edge. The new funding, totaling $350 million, validates the strategic importance of Castelion Series B funding for national security.
