Castelion, a defense startup founded by former SpaceX executives, is building what it calls America’s largest dedicated hypersonic missile manufacturing facility outside Rio Rancho, New Mexico. According to WIRED, construction of Project Ranger is scheduled to be complete by the end of the year, with mass production targeted as early as next year. The company has become a defense-tech standout, reaching a $13 billion valuation and winning over $500 million in military contracts in 18 months.
However, the project has raised unresolved safety concerns. WIRED reports that homes in the nearby Rio Rancho Estates community sit as close as about 1,000 yards to the site, and an official hazard assessment identified a massive storage facility fire as the worst-case scenario. The assessment reportedly found buildings would be left to burn and that hydrochloric acid gas could be released. Residents say Castelion has not answered basic safety questions; the company declined to speak with WIRED.
The business picture is also more complicated than the original pitch. Castelion advertised its Blackbeard missile at $384,000 per unit, but a series of Navy contracts totaling $163.4 million for 50 operational prototypes implies a unit cost of about $3.3 million, before a separate September award of up to $200 million. No public test data has been released to verify Blackbeard’s performance, and the facility’s location changed after Nevada officials demanded more safety details; the company later moved to New Mexico.