Pentagon pushes hypersonic weapons as startups cut costs to under $500,000 The Pentagon is expanding its hypersonic arsenal as defense startups race to mass produce cheaper missiles, with Castelion building the largest dedicated hypersonic production facility in the U.S. Defense startups are racing to make hypersonic missiles cheaper and easier to mass produce as the Pentagon looks to expand its arsenal of these maneuverable weapons that travel at least five times faster than the speed of sound. Hypersonic Missile Costs Exceed Traditional MunitionsThe push comes as cost estimates for existing programs remain extremely high. Estimates from the Government Accountability Office show missiles for the Army's long-range hypersonic weapon, the Dark Eagle, could cost more than $40 million each. As the Navy works to equip its Zumwalt Destroyers with hypersonics, the GAO puts estimates at $70 million per missile. That figure includes costs to develop and incorporate the necessary technologies.The GAO also notes the modernization project is two years behind schedule. By comparison, Tomahawk missiles cost around $2.6 million according to the U.S. Navy. Army budget documents show Patriot missiles cost nearly $4 million, while Precision Strike Missiles, or PrSMs, cost $1.6 million per unit. The U.S. Navy could buy almost 27 Tomahawks for the price of one hypersonic missile aboard the Zumwalt Destroyers.The Army could buy around 25 PrSMs for the price of one Dark Eagle hypersonic weapon. In the long run, for example, the Army thinks that the long-ranged hypersonic weapon will become cheaper as production ramps up, said Xiaodon Liang, Arms Control Association senior policy analyst for Nuclear Weapons Policy and Disarmament. The U.S. has invested in recent years in several of the programs that are starting to become into fruition, Liang said. These are exquisite weapons.And I think that the military is acquiring them for exquisite purposes. Mark Cancian, a retired U.S. Marines colonel and senior advisor with the CSIS Defense and Security Department, described the range of options the military needs. We're going to need all three tiers of missiles. The cheap ones, the ones that are now the high-end like Patriot and then maybe some hypersonics, Cancian said.Military Shifts Focus To Hypersonic SystemsThe U.S. military is taking an increasing interest in hypersonic weapons, which are maneuverable and travel five times faster than the speed of sound. These hypersonic systems are now seen as the novel revolutionary system and the ballistic missile is seen as the archaic one, said UC Berkeley Senior Research Scholar Cameron Tracy. Hypersonic weapons travel up to 20 times faster than traditional missiles and an adversary's reaction time is thought to be six times shorter.Hypersonic speeds are also vital for both evading enemy defense systems and executing strikes. Hypersonic weapons remain mostly in Earth's atmosphere. The missiles are maneuverable during flight and can strike a target quickly, in 15 to 30 minutes from around 1,725 miles away. Startups are hoping to bring down some of the costs to produce hypersonic weapons with more affordable missiles and increased testing capabilities.The weapon itself is under $500,000, which if you know about munitions, that's incredibly cheap, Castelion co-founder and CEO Bryon Hargis said. It is a story about hypersonics and what they can provide in terms of a weapon, but it's really a story of American manufacturing, Hargis said. The company is focused on providing America options to have that middle deterrence layer, and we're doing that through production.Castelion Builds Major Hypersonic Production FacilityThis year Castelion began building what it says will be the largest dedicated hypersonic weapon production facility in the U.S. Project Ranger is expected to produce thousands of Blackbeard weapons annually. Those will eventually be used to fill Castelion's various contracts, such as integrating the weapons into the U.S. Navy's F/A-18 Super Hornet jets, incorporating the system into the U.S. Army's HIMARS and deploying Blackbeard on unmanned surface vessels.The advantage of a hypersonic system is that it goes very far, it gets there quickly, and it's highly survivable because of that maneuverability. And that's important for achieving deterrence because it's hard to shoot down, Hargis said. Still, analysts noted potential risks. If you don't know what the target would be initially, unlike a ballistic missile where you can calculate where it'll land, you might misinterpret, for example, an incoming strike as a decapitation attempt.And that would be very concerning, Liang said. Developers say the U.S. speaks with other countries about missile launches and what the intended targets are. But there are other concerns that hypersonic maneuverability could lead to inaccuracy.