New weapons systems pretty much never go from clean-sheet RFI to field-ready and in production within three years—especially when they’re of the hypersonic variety. The US Navy’s Multi-mission Affordable Capacity Effector (MACE) program is a rare exception, and who else but Castelion is behind that blistering pace.
Late Tuesday, the Navy announced that the Torrance, CA-based hypersonic weapons startup has been awarded a contract worth up to $200M to move its Blackbeard missile into production. Castelion co-founder and COO Sean Pitt told Tectonic that the deal is the first production contract the company’s been awarded as prime contractor for MACE.
- The Navy obligated $44M in the first tranche of the contract to buy 444 Blackbeard All-Up Rounds (AURs), meaning the “fully functional tactical missiles packaged within specialized shipping and storage containers.”
- The Navy set aside $156M for the MACE program in FY2027, when it will execute the remainder of the order (bringing the total value to a cool $200M).
Speed demons: The production contract is the cherry on top of a truly wild past few years of speedy development for Blackbeard, which the Navy calls an “air-launched, hypersonic strike weapon that provides carrier-based strike fighters with a responsive, long-range, high-speed strike option against maritime and land targets.”
Boom on a budget: Here’s how we got here:
- In 2024, the Navy issued the first RFI for the MACE program, calling for an air-launched, long-range weapon compatible with the F/A-18, all fieldable by 2027 with a price tag in the low hundreds of thousands. Ambitious.
- The next year, Castelion was awarded integration contracts for Blackbeard with operational US Army and Navy platforms. On the Army side, Castelion is developing a ground-launched, HIMARS-focused variant, while the Navy’s is air-launched.
- In February, the company secured a $50M Navy contract to move Blackbeard from prototype to “integrated, early operational capability,” and followed that up in April with a $105M contract to integrate Blackbeard onto the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet.
- Then, last month, they won another $90M contract to get Blackbeard to EOC and fund design modifications to prep it for export. That contract also officially transitioned Castelion onto a US Navy Program of Record: MACE.
Oh, and they inked a deal with the Pentagon for at least “500 missiles per year once testing and validation is complete, with a pathway to purchase thousands of additional missiles” back in May, not to mention that $1B Series C at a $13B valuation last month. Not bad for a company that was founded in 2022.
“The Navy’s decision to move into production reflects its confidence in the Blackbeard program, and the progress we’ve made together,” Castelion co-founder and CEO Bryon Hargis said in a statement. “That’s how you get capability to the fleet fast, clear red tape, and partner with industry.”
Hypersonic hype: The Navy’s pretty fired up about it, too.
“This production award is a testament to what is possible when the Navy aligns agile acquisition with commercial manufacturing discipline,” PAE Aviation and NAVAIR commander Vice Adm. John Dougherty IV said. “We are putting game-changing hypersonic capability into the hands of our warfighters, dramatically expanding the lethal reach of naval aviation.”
The 444 Blackbeard missiles ordered in the first tranche are expected to be delivered and integrated with the F/A-18 fighter by 2028, Pitt told Tectonic, but the MACE program is set to get a whole lot bigger in the years to come.
With about a week left on the clock, Castelion’s clearly trying to leave no doubt about who’s had the best summer ever.
