About Us
Restoring America’s defense production advantage.
Our founders launched Castelion in 2022 with a clear, urgent mission: helping the U.S. military prevent future wars by manufacturing advanced, long-range hypersonic weapons at the speed and scale necessary for modern deterrence.
National defense requires manufacturing solutions as well as technological ones, and we have been vertically integrated from day one. Every one of our systems is designed and tested through rapid development processes to yield high-volume production at a fraction of the cost of traditional programs.
In May 2023, we were selected by the Air Force Research Laboratory for our first contract to demonstrate a new approach to affordable strike weapon development. We began developing and testing our own solid rocket motors, flight computers, and other vertically integrated components, with 21 flight tests in 2025 alone. Along the way, we opened a production and test facility in Midland, Texas, and moved into our headquarters in Torrance, California.
In November 2025, we broke ground on Project Ranger, our manufacturing campus in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, where we expect to begin production in early 2027 on our flagship weapon, the Blackbeard hypersonic strike system. Blackbeard is currently under contract with both the U.S. Navy and U.S. Army.
Leadership at Castelion
Bryon Hargis
Co-Founder & CEO
Read moreBryon Hargis
Co-Founder & CEO
Bryon Hargis is co-founder and CEO of Castelion, where he builds the manufacturing infrastructure needed to produce affordable hypersonic weapons at the speed and scale required for modern deterrence.
Prior to Castelion, Bryon served as senior director of government sales at SpaceX, where he led sales, business development, and early product definition for national security satellite programs, architecting the Starshield constellation and building a multi-billiondollar pipeline in under five years. Earlier, Bryon held a leadership role at an AI company acquired by Vista Equity and spent 12 years at JHU/APL supporting Aegis and advanced space programs.
He holds an M.S. in Applied Physics from The Johns Hopkins University and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech.
Sean Pitt
Co-Founder & COO
Read moreSean Pitt
Co-Founder & COO
Sean Pitt is co-founder and COO of Castelion, where he leads operations, and program execution for next-generation hypersonic strike systems. He is responsible for translating national security requirements into executable programs, driving customer engagement, contract structuring, and end-to-end delivery. His work emphasizes reducing cost, compressing development timelines, and enabling sustained missile production at scale.
Prior to founding Castelion, Sean spent seven years at SpaceX in commercial launch sales and mission operations, leading launch and human spaceflight business across Europe and contributing to over $1.25 billion in export sales. Throughout his career, Sean has focused on scaling mission-critical systems where speed, accountability, and execution are decisive.
Andrew Kreitz
Co-Founder & CFO
Read moreAndrew Kreitz
Co-Founder & CFO
Andrew Kreitz is co-founder and CFO of Castelion, where he leads the financial strategy behind the company’s drive to manufacture U.S. hypersonic weapons at scale. Since co-founding Castelion in 2022, he has played a pivotal role in securing nearly $450 million in private growth capital. The most recent raise, $1 billion Series C, also funds Project Ranger, a dedicated hypersonic manufacturing campus in Rio Rancho, New Mexico.
Before Castelion, Andrew led financial planning and government cost proposals for classified programs at SpaceX. Earlier he served as vice president in Goldman Sachs’ aerospace and defense investment banking group, where he executed more than $10B in mergers and acquisitions. He holds an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a B.A. from UCLA.
Jacob Sweers
Vehicle Engineering
Jacob Sweers
Vehicle Engineering
Paul Perry
Mechanical Engineering
Paul Perry
Mechanical Engineering
David Ferguson
Avionics
David Ferguson
Avionics
Bobby Panerio
Manufacturing
Bobby Panerio
Manufacturing
Tegan Counts
Seeker Development
Tegan Counts
Seeker Development
Rapid Testing
Iterative Design
Real Hardware
America Needs You!
Get your hands on real hardware and tackle hard, critical challenges for our national defense.