Ad
TECHNOLOGY
Officials tout Castelion’s New Mexico expansion as ‘a statement’
The company, flanked by public and private officials, broke ground Wednesday on its 1,000-acre Sandoval County campus
SANDOVAL COUNTY — U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Francisco Lozano said Castelion Corp.’s groundbreaking is more than a ceremony.
“It’s a statement,” Lozano said at a Wednesday event that served as a ceremonial groundbreaking for Castelion’s Sandoval County campus. “A statement about urgency, about scale and about how the United States Army intends to deter conflict and — if necessary — win it.”
Castelion founders, New Mexico leaders and federal partners alike put shovels to dirt at the company’s future hypersonics manufacturing campus, dubbed Project Ranger. The 1,000-acre site will complete the scale buildout of its hypersonic missile product, named Blackbeard.
Primary construction of the 22-building campus is expected to be completed later this year. The company’s Blackbeard missiles aim to be deliverable by 2027, Castelion officials have said.
The manufacturing facility will employ 400 construction workers and support 300 full-time employees once operational. Over the next decade, company officials expect the campus to generate over $650 million in economic impact.
“Imagine, with this, 300 jobs turns into 600 jobs, turns into 6,000 jobs, creates an entire ecosystem where we do the intelligent manufacturing, high-scale work and deliver that in other parts — connecting the defense and laboratory industries statewide,” Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said at the groundbreaking. “We are unstoppable, and we want to be part of that story.”
Lujan Grisham joked that once the governor “gets out of the way,” several possibilities and opportunities for the state can arise.
On a serious note, the governor said the Legislature and local governments have invested in millions of tax credits — including $125 million in industrial revenue bonds and $10 million in economic development funds toward Project Ranger — to allow for a “critical mass of meaningful work” to occur in New Mexico.
“For far too long, New Mexicans are like, ‘When is stuff going to be happening here?’” Lujan Grisham said. “Well, it’s been happening. A lot of incredible stuff is happening.”
She was flanked by state officials, including New Mexico Economic Development Secretary Rob Black, who proved to be a key ingredient in attracting Castelion to New Mexico.
Ad
The company last year was weighing New Mexico against nearly two dozen other sites across the U.S. for its campus, ultimately choosing the state in November because of its proximity to the state’s national labs and military installations, as well as what its founders say is a compatible workforce.
The choice of New Mexico by Castelion comes as the U.S. under President Donald Trump looks to increase defense spending, with his administration proposing $1.5 trillion in military spending for the upcoming fiscal year.
“We have been the home of rocketry in the United States, if not the world,” Black said. “It is so exciting to have Castelion lead that legacy.”
Hannah García covers tech and energy for the Journal. You can reach her at hgarcia@abqjournal.com.
