Castelion today announced a production delivery order from the U.S. Navy, with a total value of up to $200 million, to manufacture, assemble, test and deliver an initial lot of Blackbeard Hypersonic Weapons to the fleet.
"The Navy's decision to move into production reflects its confidence in the Blackbeard program, and the progress we've made together," said Castelion Co-founder and CEO Bryon Hargis in a statement. "That's how you get capability to the fleet fast, clear red tape, and partner with industry. We are grateful to PAE(A) for the trust and the urgency. Blackbeard was engineered from day one for the production line, and we look forward to delivering this capability to the fleet."
Blackbeard is an air-launched hypersonic strike weapon designed to provide a long-range, high-speed strike option against maritime and land targets. The award builds on a series of U.S. Army and U.S. Navy platform integration contracts.
Castelion has developed Blackbeard with hundreds of millions of dollars in private investment in partnership with the U.S. Navy, U.S. Army, and U.S. Air Force. Blackbeard's production strategy involves the use of vertical integration and commercial manufacturing methods, which the company said should give it greater control over cost, quality and schedule.
Work under the award will be performed at Project Ranger, the company's 1,000-acre manufacturing campus in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, and at its facility in Torrance, California.
