Castelion’s Blackbeard Moves into Production for the Navy’s MACE Program

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    "url": "https://www.tectonicdefense.com/castelions-blackbeard-moves-into-production-for-the-navys-mace-program/",
    "title": "Castelion’s Blackbeard Moves into Production for the Navy’s MACE Program - Tectonic Defense",
    "excerpt": "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. 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: 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...",
    "product": "Blackbeard",
    "summary": "Castelion has been awarded a production contract worth up to $200M by the US Navy to move its Blackbeard missile into production for the Multi-mission Affordable Capacity Effector (MACE) program.",
    "location": "Torrance, CA, USA",
    "planning": true,
    "image_url": "https://www.tectonicdefense.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/081926-Castelion-Blackbeard.jpg-scaled-1.jpeg",
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    "published_at": "2026-09-16T13:51:20Z",
    "location_data": [
      {
        "city": "Torrance",
        "state": "California",
        "region": "Northern America",
        "country": "United States",
        "continent": "Americas",
        "fuzzy_match": false
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    ],
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    "article_sentence": "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.",
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    "related_company_name": "United States Navy",
    "related_company_domain": "navy.mil"
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