Hypersonic weapons startup Castelion lands $105 million US Navy contract for F/A-18 integration

(Patria) - Castelion, a small California defense startup, has received a $105 million contract from the US Navy to prepare its Blackbeard hypersonic missile for use in Navy F/A-18 fighter jets aboard aircraft carriers, paving the way for the weapon to go from the laboratory to the battlefield next year, Reuters reported.

The contract is significant as the United States expands the types of weapons it needs to deter China from taking Taiwan by force. Unlike a land-launched ballistic missile, Blackbeard can be carried by an aircraft carrier and launched from an F/A-18, a jet that flies from the carrier's deck, putting Chinese missile sites and warships within range that land-based weapons could not easily reach.
Because Blackbeard travels five times the speed of sound and is designed to be cheap enough to buy in large numbers, the United States could use it to make a Chinese military commander think twice before ordering an attack.

"The most sacred goals in our engineering process are schedule and affordability. That forces more creative solutions. Instead of waiting 52 weeks for a space computer, we use automotive-grade components that support tens of billions of dollars in commercial investment annually, and they work," Sean Pitt, Castelion's co-founder and chief operating officer, told Reuters.

The contract will fund Blackbeard's hardware and software integration into the F/A-18, flight testing, and the full safety and airworthiness certification the military requires before the weapon can be cleared for storage, loading and carrying from an aircraft carrier at sea – the last major hurdle before the Navy decides whether to buy Blackbeard. Castelion expects to clear that hurdle and have the weapon ready for use next year.

To support expected orders, Castelion has funded Project Ranger, a manufacturing campus being built entirely with company money at a cost the company estimates at $250 million. The company already has facilities across Texas, California and Washington, and when fully operational, the New Mexico campus will be capable of producing thousands of Blackbeard missiles annually, with that capacity expected to be established by the end of next year.

Pentagon budget documents released this week show the Navy plans to buy 4,500 air-launched hypersonic missiles for the F/A-18E/F over the next five years, with an average unit price of about $384,000 – a relatively low figure for a hypersonic-class weapon.