u/mounwp

Hey everyone,

I had a productive and constructive call with Glen this afternoon and he walked me through a lot of detail on the company’s strategy and reaffirmed Castellum’s commitment to growing organically while accelerating through acquisitions. There was a lot of discussion, so let me lay out my takeaways:

Glen pointed out to Precise Systems as a reference for the kind of path Castellum is on. Precise was founded back in 1990 out of Lexington Park, MD, doing engineering, program management, and software development for the Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force, with work in electronic warfare, unmanned systems, and airborne weapons systems. For a long time it was a steady established contractor and not much more than that. Their turning point came in January 2023, when Bluepoint Investment Partners, a private equity firm which focuses on lower-middle market defense and government services companies, made an investment that turned Precise Systems into an acquisition platform. In about three years, Precise made four big acquisitions. They picked up Excet for physical-sciences research and CBRNE work in late 2023, then Jardon & Howard Technologies (JHT) for embedded hardware, software, and open-architecture avionics, and then Mission Focused Systems for systems engineering and cybersecurity early this year. Last week, they acquired Ternion Corp which expands their modeling, simulation and training capabilities. Each acquisition added a genuinely different capability and reached new customers across the DoD and into the intelligence community, rather than just buying more of what they already did. In June, Precise was awarded both a $44.7 million contract for NSWC Structural Performance Engineering Services and a five-year $116.8 million contract for airborne electronic attack warfare at NSWC. This is the disciplined and steady acquisition cadence Castellum is working to achieve.

We don’t have exact details of Precise’s revenue numbers since they’re a privately-owned company but one site estimates that its revenue for 2025 was $368.1 million. Precise proves the model works at this size and in this exact market. Glen also explained that most of the attractive targets are privately held, either founder-owned or increasingly owned by private equity. These businesses don’t trade publicly, don’t openly share their financials, and only become available when the owner decides it’s time to sell it to another buyer. Private equity owned firms run on an investment horizon where a firm buys a company, grows it for several years, and then exits, and that exit window is the moment it becomes acquirable. The company Castellum most wants might simply not be available right now, because the founder isn’t ready or the PE owner hasn’t decided to sell just yet, but that same company or companies could open up eventually. It’s really been about identifying the targets that will, building and keeping the relationships warm, and staying ready and capitalized so that when that window finally opens, usually on the seller’s timeline and not theirs, the company can finally advance discussions to complete an accretive acquisition. This is why patience and readiness are a such a central part of how they operate. They aren’t being slow, they’re positioning to act on windows they don’t actually control.

He reaffirmed the core loop the whole strategy runs on. Accretive acquisitions grow the business and bring in new contract vehicles, these vehicles open up more contract bids and opportunities, winning that work grows headcount and revenue, and the bigger base funds more investment in business capture and the next acquisition. Each turn of the wheel makes the next one easier, and Glen’s mentioned he’s been busy with client meetings and had another one to get to right after our call. The investment in business capture the company keeps talking about is certainly real, active work that the CTM team is working expeditiously to make and achieve.

He said that if the company really wanted to show profit, it has plenty of ways to do it, but there wouldn’t be business growth as a result. Pulling back on the business development, investor relations, and acquisition spending would let them print a profit, but it would cost them the growth that spending generates. The judgment they’ve made is that the best interests of the company and its long-term shareholders lie in continuous growth and development rather than optimizing near-term profit. That’s the front-loaded investment thesis from the earnings report, and it’s genuinely stated as a deliberate and purposeful choice they’re making because they believe the long-term compounding is worth far more than the earnings they’d show today.

He explained why this next acquisition matters so much in how they approach it. Once it’s announced, a series of acquisitions can follow, and that’s what the front-loaded investment is about. They’re doing the groundwork now, building the relationships, the readiness, the capital position, and the capture capability, to set up a repeatable engine rather than a single deal. Getting this first one sets the template and the credibility for the ones that come after, in the same way Bluestone’s investment set up Precise Systems.

Revenue can go flat or dip because of contract modifications or timing and delivery changes that affect when it actually gets recognized, and that’s just a thing that happens in the industry. For Castellum, their contracts, and PMA-290 in particular, were set to start ramping up this year. Q2 reflects contracts that are still in the earlier part of their ramp, with the acceleration ahead of them, and PMA-290 ramping is a named driver of second-half growth straight from Glen.

On the stock itself, he shares that a near-term goal is getting Castellum into the Russell 2000. Getting into the Russell 200 matters because index inclusion brings passive flows, since the funds and ETFs that track the index automatically buy the stock, and that’s adds steady, non-discretionary demand that can bring price stability to a small-cap that trades thinly and can be volatile. For a stock that we’ve recognized that is disconnected from its fundamentals, that kind of demand serves as a real stabilizer however Glen was clear that inclusion into the Russell 2000 was just a stepping stone for what’s much higher. The long-term goal is considerably higher as the business keeps growing and the contracts keep materializing, so it’s a stepping stone toward more broader recognition and a more stable, more fairly valued stock. Glen will alert me when they release the website, and will touch bases with the community to provide more updates as I receive them.

GLEN IVES, CEO:
- Record revenue of $28.2M, as compared to H1 revenue of $25M
- This record combined with the company’s current trajectory allows them to anticipate record revenue growth for 2026
- The second quarter played out largely as they anticipated with regards to contract execution, timing factors for month to month, quarter to quarter in our industry
- Castellum will continue funding their growth investments entirely from their own operations with a debt-free balance sheet and growing cash positions
- Growth for the first half was driven by the continued ramp-up of the three major long term prime contracts which were from the GTMR contract and the $66.2M NAWCAD contract by SSI
- These contracts form the growth base for us in 2026 and well beyond
- The $100,000 variance primarily reflects gains from the ramp-up of SSI’s NAWCAD Lakehurst, partially offset by the expected 2026 wind-down of two firm fixed-press contracts that contributed meaningful revenue in the second quarter of 2025
- We also saw lower volume on certain Corvus subcontracts due to a slower-paced trend we have observed in the government back-filing funded open positions
- These are all dynamics that we continue to work through and they are cyclical in nature in our industry
- Contracts do wind down, new contracts ramp up and the crossover quarters can look flat even when the underlying trajectory is clearly up
- We expanded our business development capacity this year specifically to increase the volume and quality of the opportunities we pursue and we are seeing that investment show up in our pipeline
- Our pipeline is constantly audited for realism
- SSI was awarded a $4M subcontract for ADMACS, was a very significant win for us; our government mission customer specifically chose SSI based on their remarkable past performance and their ability to do the job; Although the monetary value may not be large, there is real potential for future growth
- We achieved Cyber Security Maturity Model Certification Level 2 confirming that Castellum and all of its subsidiaries are trusted with unclassified information supported by Department of War programs
- 2026 is a year in which we are purposely and strategically investing in business development, investor relations, and meaningful acquisition activities
- We think about these investments as the upfront work required to win, grow, and scale Castellum; they come before new contract awards and before the associated revenue shows up in our results
- We are making these investments from a position of financial strength funded by our own operations
- There may be concern about our current net profitability, can say there are actually many ways to ensure profit, but as a young company on the move, and committed to real growth and value, these growth investments are healthy and vital to our longer-term net profitability

DAVID BELL, CFO:
- As Glen described, the small $100,000 difference reflects gains from the early ramp-up of the $66.2M NAWCAD Lakehurst MO&I contract, partially offset by expected wind down of two firm fixed price contracts, on which revenue was recognized in the second quarter of last year, and as well as lower volume on certain Corvus subsidiary subcontracts
- Two factors drove the margin change; First, we carried a higher mix of subcontractor work in the current quarter, particularly on the PMA 290 contract and other large programs; Secondly, we absorbed the cost to complete the remaining work on two fixed price contracts
- The increase [in higher operating expenses] was driven primarily by higher fringe expenses, reflecting the head count additions and higher health insurance costs; we also ramped up our acquisition and investor relations activities
- I want to reinforce Glen’s earlier point here, the EBITDA decline was expected and it reflects the planned 2026 investments in business development, investor relations and acquisition activities we committed to
- The ECONOMICS OF THIS WORK IS INHERENTLY FRONT-LOADED; Expenses are generally recognized well in advance of the revenue they’re intended to generate
- WE ARE TRADING LOWER NEAR-TERM EBITDA FOR STRONGER MULTI-YEAR GROWTH PROFILE
- Net cash provided by operating activities was $2.4 million for the first half, compared to net cash used of $2.3 million in the first half of prior year, a positive swing of over $4.5 million; this improvement was primarily driven by strong collections on accounts receivable
- We did not undertake any equity or debt transactions in the first half of 2026; our liquidity was funding entirely through cash generated from operations
- Ended the quarter with $16.9 million in cash, up from $15.8 million, and $14.9 million from year end; that’s an increase of $2 million since year end generated by the operations of the business itself
- We have no long term debt and stockholders’ equity stood at $35.9 million at the end of the quarter
- WE ARE FUNDING GROWTH INVESTMENTS INTERNALLY WHILE THE CASH BALANCE GROWS, AND THAT GIVES US FLEXIBILITY BOTH FOR ORGANIC INVESTMENT AND DISCIPLINE M&A
- We expect to recognize approximately 16% of the backlog over the next 12 months, and approximately 48% percent cumulatively when including the following 24 months; the timing of funding and option exercises rest with our customers, but this backlog provides a multi-year foundation of revenue visibility that we believe differentiates Castellum at our size
- Growth-focused planned investments are temporarily compressing EBITDA
- We remain committed to deliver record full-year revenue for 2026

GLEN IVES, CEO:
- Phase 3 of Castellum’s evolution remain consistent and are directly aligned to our 2026 updated strategy
- The first half of 2026 was focused on deploying the right resources to those priorities in the context of a very dynamic government contracting environment
- We do expect to deliver record revenue for the full year
- Our focus on the second half is translating that growth into durable, higher margin performance
- These investments are already contributing to the growth we delivered in the first half, and expect it to continue contributing throughout the remainder of the year
- A LARGER, HIGHER QUALITY PIPELINE PURSUED BY A STRONGER CAPTURE TEAM PRODUCES MORE AWARDS OVER TIME
- Our job is to keep that engine running at full throttle and to execute flawlessly on the programs we have already won
- We are also actively pursuing M&A opportunities that meet our criteria; Our standards have not and will not change; We are proactively evaluating businesses that bring differentiated capability, the right contract vehicles, and customer access we do not already have
- An evaluation that is ACCRETIVE to our shareholders and will posture us to grow and scale Castellum effectively, efficiently, and expeditiously
- WE WILL PASS ON A TRANSACTION RATHER THAN FORCE ONE THAT ISN’T IN OUR BEST INTERESTS STRATEGICALLY
- With no debt and a growing balance sheet position, we can afford to be patient and disciplined, while still pressing full throttle to find that right opportunity
- We do believe that underlying budget environment remains supportive of defense and national security spending with backing from both sides of the aisle, particularly where your company, CTM, operates, highly relevant areas, cybersecurity, electronic warfare, C5ISR, autonomous systems, and all the related mission technologies
- The first half of 2026 was a record revenue half for the company, and we expect the full year to be a record as well
- Our company, Castellum, has never been stronger or well-postured in position for future growth than we are today; Our work, our technology solutions and services are more relevant than ever; They are meaningful and in very real demand by our mission customers;
- IT IS THE WORK WE BELIEVE IN, WORK WE LOVE TO DO, WORK THAT EXCITES US EACH AND EVERYDAY, AND IT IS VITAL WORK AND SERVICE AND DIRECT SUPPORT OF OUR NATIONAL SECURITY AND OUR WAR FIGHTERS
- AND FINALLY, IT IS THE WORK THAT NO ONE DOES BETTER THAN US
- I would challenge anyone to find another company our size that has achieved that level of success in such a relatively brief period of time
- Our team are absolutely relentless and true in their shared commitment to our mission and direct support of national security and our warfighters

Q&A:

Q: “What stage are you at in this investment if you’re expecting incremental increases in the back half or if you think that was largely done in the first half?”; “What do you expect the EBITDA margin potential and the operating leverage of the business to be once you begin to build off this base.”

A: DAVID BELL: “We had in our planning the prior year to make investment in our business development by adding in-housing our business development activities, and I think if you look at our pipeline, you’d see that we have very actively engaged in putting qualified, verified and qualified pipeline capabilities. A lot of it came from the discipline of our team that has special knowledge of the areas that we historically worked in the Navy space and also expanding beyond the Navy space, which has been our bread and butter; It will take a while for that to develop; We have a number of contracts that we have submitted and we’re waiting to hear back on those and we have another slate and we have a schedule of contracts that we’ve identified that we’re bidding that will take us out through the end of the year. We’ll come back to you as we develop that”
“We are doing a fantastic discipline of looking for contracts, looking for businesses that either deepen us and where we’re competent or expand our breadth of service or also expand our customer base to where we can provide services that we currently perform; we have super high performance ratings in the work that we do and we’re looking for partners, other companies that want to do the same type of work so we can expand that work and the quality of service that we do; we’re looking for companies with positive EBITDA, companies where we can build synergies; Naturally, there will be some EBITDA improvement. We are not going to load up our expenses, we’re going to make things efficient and where we can eliminate costs. We’re going to eliminate costs. We don’t need various groups, we can create good synergies and if we have great operators and we’re efficient, it will build, affect our EBITDA. Our EBITDA is partially driven by the investments that we’re making now as well as the public company costs we carry when we acquire a company, they’re not going to bring those incremental costs. Were think there’s a lot of ripe opportunities out there that will be accretive and incremental.”
GLEN: “I actually moved our strategy up by 18 to 24 months based upon that success in 2025; We made a calculated purposeful decision that this was a time for us to continue our growth.”

Further answers:
- ALRE will continue to be a backbone of the business, demand will continue to grow from aircraft carriers for the next decade which will allow for more opportunities to expand, build, and deliver on those operations
- Government is scheduled to have several aircraft carriers with ALRE in the Gerald Ford class, Castellum is positioned well to be a main force in that technology area
- Management reaffirms the importance of growing the company through their organic growth strategy and acquisitions, buybacks are not an option on the table for them as of right now
- The company will continue to be patient while it finds the right accretive acquisition for them for the right price, and they’ve continued to do this while still having positive cash operating income
- We have the size and capacity to handle business growth and business size, have people that can take on additional work while maintaining a growing large successful company
- Management is working to increase outreach and engagement with investors, and analysts, and are making active, deliberate, outreach to all those in the know. Castellum is not prepared to give guidance right now, but are providing as much information as they can that they believe is reliable and appropriate

I will admit, I had slightly higher expectations going into this quarter just like the rest of you, but the more I sat with the actual report and what management said, the more I came away genuinely interested. Headline numbers and the underlying reasons in my opinion tell two different things here but to fully understand what’s going on, we must analyze this report thoroughly.

Q2 revenue was $13.9M, effectively flat against $14.0M for Q2 2025 and down modestly from Q1’s $14.3M. First half revenue was $28.2M, up 10% year over year. Gross margin compressed to 34% from 36%. Adjusted EBITDA came in at $0.03M against $0.50M a year ago. Net loss was $1.1M, or ($0.01) per share, while cash rose to $16.9M from $15.8M at the end of Q1. The backlog held at $271.7M and the pipeline expanded to $953.5M from $938M.

Taken at face value, this is a very soft quarter for Castellum. The value of actually doing the work is understanding why it looks this way, because nearly every measure in this financial report came with a reason behind it and not actually deterioration as one might suspect. Management communicated that they consciously prioritized business development, investor relations, and acquisition activity ahead of maximizing near-term earnings. David Bell, CFO, said that the EBITDA decline reflects “the planned 2026 investments in business development, investor relations, and acquisitions activities,” and that “the economics of this work are inherently front-loaded…certain costs are recognized well in advance of the revenue it is intended to generate”. This was a deliberate choice to spend ahead of growth which was explained by the company.

Total operating expenses rose to $5,813,511 from $5,443,970 one year ago, which is an increase of about $370k. Gross profit for this quarter slipped to $4,719,419 from $5,060,447, down about $341K. If you put these together, you’re getting roughly a $700K adverse swing against flat revenue which accounts essentially the entire EBITDA decline. Stock based compensation rose, to $795,538 from $511,814 as part of an agreement during the shareholders meeting to increase the stock based compensation package. They spent ahead of growth in a quarter where they understood that revenue would be flat. As the revenue ramps, that same spending base should work as the leverage rather than a continued drag.

Pay attention to the front-loaded model, because this comes directly from the CFO’s own words about costs being recognized ahead of revenue. At the corporate level, BD, IR, and acquisition spend is incurred now for revenue later. At the contract level, a new award ramps into full billing over time rather than switching on at once. That’s why the newer NAWCAD contracts are still early on, and most of their revenues are ahead. The company attributed the flat revenue to “gains from the ramp up of SSI’s NAWCAD Lakehurst contract, particularly offset by the expected wind down of certain contracts that contributed additional revenue in the second quarter of 2025”. My analysis for this is that the revenue actually left the base as those older contracts expired, and the company still printed $13.9M against $14M. The newer work backfilled almost all of it, while those contracts are, per the earlier data, only 12-17% into execution. So they absorbed the loss of prior-year revenue and held the line using contracts with most of their ramp still ahead. To simplify this, the expiring work is behind them while the ramping work is largely in front.

The CFO attributed Gross margin coming down to 34% from 36% to “a higher mix of subcontractor work, which typically carries a lower margin than direct labor, as well as the cost to complete the remaining work on the two firm-fixed-price contracts.” We documented the Peraton subcontract escalating across five consecutive tranches to roughly $103M obligated, and the Booz Allen SMEP subaward on the USSOCOM side. Subcontract revenue runs at thinner margins than direct labor, so a quarter weighted towards it pulls blended margin down. The margin dip and the Corvus subcontract growth we’ve tracked are likely the same phenomenon that we know about and have direct access to information of.

If you’ve been following me, you would know that the front loaded model was made observable through their job openings. We noted five roles posted as “contingent on award or funding” over the past few weeks:

— RF Engineer (DoD CIO Persistent Spectrum Monitoring)
— Policy Analyst, DoD/ITU
— PKI Engineer, Aberdeen Proving Ground
— Instructional Designer, Washington DC, VCF Transformation
— Senior Data Scientist, Fort Belvoir, VA

The way contingent hiring works usually in the government contracting industry is that a role posted as contingent on award means the company has an internal line of sight to a contract it expects to win that hasn’t been announced. They line up cleared talent ahead of time so they can staff the day the award lands, because putting cleared people on the work immediately is often part of what wins the recompete and smooths the transition. Sourcing TS/SCI-cleared engineers, especially at the $165K-$185K amounts in those postings is expensive and slow so they’re doing that ahead of time. These contract awards could also take weeks and months before they’re announced so it’s strategic for them that they would opt to do this.

I expected cash for this quarter to be at $17M, and cash rose to $16.9M for the quarter, up about $2M since the year end, and the CFO stated that they “funded the business entirely from operating cash flow during the first half, ending the period with a debt-free balance sheet.” For a company this size, self-funding the BD, IR, and acquisition investment without debt or a raise is significant and it shows that their business strategy is intact.

Management guided to record full-year revenue and their first half of $28.2M is 10% above what they reported during the first half of 2025. I should continue to point out that the board’s own $63.84M threshold from the CEO compensation amendment remains on target, but now it would require $35.6M in revenue for the second half and doing so would require the company to report record revenues for Q3 and Q4. Record revenue is achievable, beating 2025’s revenue of $52.9M but we may have to see contract awards materialize for them to achieve the $63.84M baseline objective. I’m curious and will continue to reach out for more clarity about this and more clarity that they will provide tomorrow during the conference call but my thesis hasn’t changed. Castellum is at its inflection point and is expeditiously working towards growth and expansion.

Today Castellum reports Q2, so I wanted to lay out where the company stands, where this community stands, and what we’ll be watching for when they report earnings.

Starting with the community, we’re well ahead past 400 members now and the group has grown into a real research cultivated space with different peers forming their own ideas and perspectives which builds a broader read on the market while we all hold a shared position in CTM. We also have been fortunate enough to acquire and manage the largest Castellum-centered subreddit, which gives our due diligence and research a much wider distribution to an audience of investors and shareholders eager to join along and learn about the community while most importantly being apart of the growth with us. As Castellum continues to grow, we the community aspire to grow along with it and build a larger community.

On ownership, we now account for 6.227 million disclosed shares. That is 6.58% of the shares outstanding and 7.48% of the share float, up from the 5 million previously reported in June. All of it has been organic, uncoordinated, and built one decision at a time with no institutional money behind it. Our long term retail base which holds through drawdowns are slowly taking shares out of circulation and dampening the volatility we’re receiving when those weaker hands rotate out. On the institutional side, the read is still early but it is moving in the right direction. Recent filings from Fintel are showing that a widening set of advisors and smaller institutions have been opening positions. These sizes are modest but we expect them to grow as the company continues to increase their footprint.

Management’s engagement has been extremely positive over the past couple of months and they’ve been very communicative with us shareholders to a degree that some of us would even consider to be uncommon at this market cap. I’ve personally received a lot of positive information from Glen during our calls, as well from other prominent shareholders in the community who have reached out to extend their appreciation and offer constructive feedback towards company direction and focus.

Hiring has been the clearest leading indicator this year from Castellum. The company has been adding cleared personnel at what looks like the fastest pace in its history, across every subsidiary and across a customer set wider than what their current profile suggests. For a services business, headcount is the most direct forward read on revenue that you could get as these roles don’t get staffed, especially at these rates, without contracted or imminent work behind them. That’s a central datapoint that we’ve been weighing a lot. The company has really accelerated Corvus Consulting this year as a strategic subcontractor to other prime contracts they’ve worked with awardees for, which increases their partnerships and makes them more competitive for related work down the road. Speciality Systems continue to impress with their two awarded contracts and GTMR continues to receive attention from us for its work managing the acquisition, development, support, and delivery of the Navy’s Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance Aircraft.

For today’s earnings, this is the first quarter which they have not only announced publicly but the first quarter with every major award being executed simultaneously: the Big 3 contracts, the largest Peraton tranche to date funded at the start of the quarter, ADMACs underway, and LIIS CMDS MAC newly won. We’re also anticipating the release of their redesigned website expected as soon as today or tomorrow. I speak on behalf of the community that this itself is a huge first step of providing shareholder with a more clearer presentation for them to understand what Castellum is, focuses on, and how it achieves these objectives through their core business model and strategies.

The price isn’t reflective of the fundamentals but I expect that to compress over time and for the company to finally see the growth in the share price as it has always been wanting for its shareholders. As the holder base tightens and more institutional attention builds up, there will be less float supporting the price and less room for other market tactics to be used to continually suppress the price below where it deserves to be valued. Our disclosed numbers certainly understate real retail ownership, and there’s still plenty of members who haven’t reported and there’s a wider base that hasn’t found us just yet. Whether you hold 100 shares or 10,000 shares, you belong in this community. We encourage more users to join along us as we continue to grow our community and as the company continues to expand.

Revenue was $36.7 million this quarter versus $32.5 million a year ago, so about 13% growth. Not explosive growth, but reasonable. The more informative number is gross margin, which went from 25% to 32.8%. That increase mostly comes from the Ask Sage acquisition, software revenue carries a much higher margin than the services work that made up most of the business here. The underlying mix of what they’re selling is moving towards higher-margin revenue, which is generally something positive for long-term profitability as long as it continues.

They’re very much stronger with their balance sheet this quarter. $410 million in cash and investments, and effectively no meaningful debt; the convertible notes that were outstanding got converted into equity in January, so that liability is off the books. Management indicated in the release that they intend to use that cash for acquisitions in the second half of the year.

On the expense side however, there’s some improvements that should be made. SG&A grew 48% year over year which is ahead of the 13% revenue growth. R&D also roughly doubled and as a result, adjusted EBITDA loss widened from $8.5 million to $11.6 million, even though gross margins improved. So the margin gains are currently being offset by faster-growing operating costs and the improvement in gross profit hasn’t yet reached the bottom line.

Operating cash used also increases significantly, with $40.2 million in the first half of this year versus $10.5 million in the first half of last year. Part of that is working capital and integration costs from the Ask Sage and CargoSeer acquisitions. However I’m not too worried about that since integration costs will eventually roll off and be moderate as we continue quarter over quarter.

The company says they have $269.6 million in backlog, but the “remaining performance obligations” figure under ASC, which is the portion that’s actually contractually committed is $9.2 million, with only $5.7 million expected in the next twelve months. I’m looking to see growth in relation to this actual number and more bids and more involvement in the government contracting industry for the next few quarters to actually back the backlog numbers. Since they’re targeting accretive acquisitions in the back half of 2026, their goal should probably be to look for valuable government contractors.

The quarter shows that the company is improving its business quality with better margin mix, less debt and more contract diversification with those 20 contracts announced, but the expense growth and cash burn are currently outpacing that improvement, and the backlog carries less value than what they’re actually putting out via the press release. Let’s see whether the SG&A growth slows relative to revenue, whether operating cash narrows, and whether the H2 revenue acceleration implied by the guidance (which is $64-94 million above H1’s pace) actually materializes.

While conducting research on future federal contract opportunities, I came across the Missile Defense Agency’s (MDA) Missile Defense Agency Advisory & Professional Support Service (MAPSS) acquisition, specifically Intelligence Tranche 2. After reading through a handful of documents, I believe this is an opportunity that is deserving of a due diligence post and an opportunity that is closely suited to the field of work Castellum performs.

MAPSS is the MDA’s next-generation professional services program. Instead of awarding one large contract, MDA divided the acquisition into multiple “tranches,” with each tranche covering a different key mission area. This allows the agency to procure specialized services separately while creating long-term contract vehicles that will be used to issue task orders over the life of the program.

Tranche 2 covers six primary functional areas: Intelligence, Counterintelligence, Security, Test Support, Public Affairs, and Facilities Lifecycle Management

The Intelligence portion supports the MDA’s Intelligence Requirements Division by providing all-source intelligence analysis, missile threat assessments, scientific and technical intelligence, intelligence planning, and other mission support functions. The work directly supports the development and operation of U.S. missile defense systems, making it a critical element of MDA’s mission.

Rather than creating an entirely new standalone contract vehicle, MDA intends to procure the Intelligence requirement through OASIS+, the General Service Administration’s flagship professional services IDIQ, a contract vehicle that Castellum already has been awarded through its portfolio of contract vehicles. The company has access through the government’s premier contract vehicle and now the opportunity is available for them to compete for those task orders once they are released.

Contractors for Tranche 2 may be tasked with: All-Source intelligence analysis, Foreign ballistic and hypersonic missile threat analysis, Scientific and Technical Intelligence (S&TI), Intelligence planning, Intelligence production, etc.

Here’s the current schedule for Tranche 2:

FLCM — Draft (FOPR): July 2026 — FOPR: Oct 2026 — Award: May 2027
Security — Draft (FOPR): July 2026 — FOPR: Nov 2026 — Award: June 2027
Intelligence: Draft (FOPR): July 2026 — FOPR: Oct 2026 — Award: May 2027
Test Support: Draft (FOPR): Aug 2026 — FOPR: Dec 2026 — Award: July 2027

I would say based on multiple IDIQs awarded to Castellum already through the SHIELD contract vehicle, the MDA has already determined that subsidiaries like SSI meets the qualifications to perform work supporting missile defense programs. It is good to see that there exists a relationship between the company and the MDA and experience supporting its mission. I’ll provide more information as I find it and as the MDA continues to update their information.

https://sam.gov/opp/9e176fdef85a42abb3999d386ba7b63c/view

Q1 2026 came in at $14.3 million, up 23% year over year and the best first quarter in company history. FY2025 closed at $52.9 million. Q1 was the first quarter where several major contracts were executing at once, but most of them are still early in their ramp. The $66.2 million contract awarded in October was roughly 5% complete as of March 31, but is 17% complete with a $8.5 million funded backlog and a total backlog of $61.8 million. Their other contract is currently 12% complete with $3.9 million funded backlog and a total backlog of $40.4 million.

Then there’s Peraton with the largest tranche awarded to Corvus Consulting of $23.1 million, awarded on the last day of Q1. This means it funded work that gets performed and recognized in Q2 as opposed to Q1. As part of this award, Corvus Consulting would provide engineering services for 22 LCATS with different certified levels.

Here’s where it gets interesting, take a look at the SEC filing the company just put out a couple weeks back:

“For fiscal year 2026, Employee shall be eligible for a total annual bonus of up to fifty percent (50%) of Base Salary, consisting of: (i) an incentive bonus of twenty-five percent (25%) of Base Salary based upon the Company achieving the following performance measures: Net Sales of $63,840,000 minimum and Adjusted EBITDA of $1,105,000 minimum; and (ii) a discretionary bonus of up to twenty-five percent (25%) of Base Salary, payable at the sole discretion of the Compensation, Culture, and People Committee should the Company exceed the minimum threshold.”

This is the boards own targeted growth, which implies roughly 21% full-year growth and Q1 already ran at 23%. I expect revenue for this quarter to be at the very modest amount of $15.0M although it can definitely be higher which would place them in target to reach that $63.8M minimum. If the first half revenue is around $29-30 million, the full year target is well within reach.

FY2025 full-year adjusted EBITDA was $1.0M and Q1 2026 alone printed $0.4 million, fully in line and in target with Glen’s threshold criteria of $1.105 million. Backlog was $273.3 million at the end of Q1 with a $938 million pipeline which was up from $817 million at the end of 2025. I expect the pipeline number to grow, exceeding $1B eventually as the defense market is growing rapidly. The reason for this expectation is because of more opportunities the company is pursuing as well as with the eventual release of task orders by the MDA for the Golden Dome as well as the acquisition that will take this place this year. Between then and now, we’ve seen CTM JV win a position on the $250 million LIIS CMDS MAC in June, and SSI picking up the $4 million ADMACS subcontract under SAIC. Corvus was also obligated $2.7 million in May for “the manufacture and distribution of deliverables for the smep contract, provision of language and intelligence services, written translation services, technical advisory and it services, management and professional consulting services, cybersecurity, information technology, information warfare, electronic warfare, and news and information services.” I expect them to have at least $17M in cash for Q2.

I also received word that the company is planning on launching its new website redesign during the first week of August. The company is working expeditiously to take full advantage of the opportunities that are presented before them. Castellum is crossing an inflection point and is primed for growth.

For about a few months now, we as a community have been tracking the company’s job postings systematically. We’ve pulled from several job listing portals as a way to fully understand the scope of the company’s work whether that’s logging the role, the location, the salary band, the clearance requirements, the customer if we could identify if, and whether the posting carried potential new opportunities for the companies (i.e. contingency planning or language).

A company’s disclosures tell you what it has chosen to announce. Its hiring tells you what it is actually doing. Those two things overlap, but they aren’t the same and the gap between them is where the interesting parts live. What a few months of collecting these has given us is a map of who Castellum’s customers actually are, what mission areas they operate in, what classification tiers they work at, and how firmly they are dug in. And the map is considerably larger than what the company does actually disclose, and considerably larger than what the market appears to have priced.

When Specialty Systems was acquired by Castellum, the combined company reported an announced revenue run rate of roughly $33 million, of which quarterly revenue was $4.19 million and cash on hand was just a little over $2 million. Q1 2026 revenue came in at $14.3 million. That is a single quarter exceeding three times what the entire company was doing quarterly at the time of that acquisition. FY2025 revenue closed at $52.9 million, cash is now at $15.8 million and the company is debt-free after retiring its last remaining note payable this year. Backlog stands at $273.3 million and their qualified pipeline is $938 million. Management has guided that approximately 16% of backlog converts to revenue over the next twelve months and roughly 49% over twenty four months. And that backlog converts because of Castellum’s consistent growth in headcount

What we’ve tracked through SSI:
- Software Engineer
- Network Administrator
- Information Security Officer
- Software Configuration Manager
- Information Technologist / Configuration & Management
- Configuration Management Professional
- Systems Administrator
- Electrical Engineer (EMALS / Advanced Arresting Gear)
- Facility Security Officer

SSI’s hiring is the most legible of the three subsidiaries. The company is currently executing three primes simultaneously - the $66.2 million Mission Operations and Integration contract, their first full and open prime win, meaning no small-business set-aside protection competing against larger firms, the $49.8 million Software Support Activities contract recompete they won, SSI’s third consecutive win on that same contract and its second successful recompete and the legacy contract work they’ve continued since before the acquisition of SSI, which has been running since 2022.

This is the technical staffing profile of exactly those contracts which have been executing at a great level. And this is the level of execution that shareholders expect to see when the company posts that they’ve not only been awarded with contracts but continue to execute through them with precision and reliability and performance. Take a look at the Facility Security Officer’s role: it exists to establish and manage an industrial security program under the National Industrial Security Program. In pain terms, that’s the organizational apparatus a company needs in order to hold and execute classified contracts, for example the person responsible for security clearances, facility accreditation, classified document handling, and compliance with the government’s rules for protecting classified information. You hire for that type of talent when you expect your classified footprint to grow beyond what your current setup can provide and support.

If you read it alongside two other things, it gets even more interesting. First, SSI holds a position on the Missile Defense Agency’s SHIELD IDIQ vehicle, the vehicle explicitly built around a multi-domain defense system for detecting, tracking, and intercepting ballistic, hypersonic, and cruise missile threats. Second, SSI’s own Software Configuration Manager job description states that the position “supports national security mission requirements, including cryptologic activities, systems supporting command and control, and other weapons and intelligence relation missions.”

Taken together, the reading is Castellum building capacity for more classified work than it currently holds.

GTMR’s hiring is smaller in volume but very concentrated towards the NAVAIR PMA-290 programs office and its contract that they won which was their largest contract awarded in company history. Remember, the contact runs through September 2030 and covers the full acquisition lifecycle across a portfolio that includes the P-8A Poseidon, the MQ-4C Triton, the Minotaur Family of Systems, and the P-8A Foreign Military Sales.

The Project Scheduler posting is the one that caught my eye. On paper it sounds like your typical administrative role but read the description and it is much more than just that. The job requires supporting the Special Missions Integrated Product Team on all Integrated Master schedule aspects like integrating schedule inputs from program management, aircraft engineering, aircraft integration and testing, logistics, commercial vendor weapons replacement assemblies, budget and financial management, and contracts. It asks for five years of experience, proficiency in Microsoft Project and OnePager Pro, and a specific prior experience managing NAVAIR aircraft and vendor integrated Master Schedules.

What this means concretely is that a GTMR employee holds the master schedule for a program office responsible for two of the Navy’s most strategically significant aircraft. Every engineering milestone, every vendor delivery, every test event, every budget cycle across the Special Missions portfolio flows through that schedule. Here’s why that matters: Back in April, the Navy declared Initial Operational Capability on P-8A Increment 3 Block 2 configuration, the most significant capability upgrade the aircraft has received since entering service, adding enhanced anti-submarine warfare, improved sensors, wideband satellite communications, and a new ASW signals intelligence capability and it was the PMA-290 office that announced it. The P-8A program is also accelerating. The FY2027 budget request includes 12 new P-8A aircraft at just over $4.2 billion, plus more than $381 million for modifications to existing aircraft. There are currently 185 P-8As in service globally across eight countries with more coming.

By far, we’ve been most impressed with the growth of Corvus Consulting this year. The lack of press releases for Corvus does a great injustice to its recognition so let me inform you of what we’ve tracked and the significance of all of it.

- EW/EMSO Program Integration Lead
- EW/EMSO Management Consultant SME
- RF Engineer
- Policy Analyst, DoD/ITU
- PKI Engineer
- Instructional Designer
- Offensive Security Engineer
- Cyberspace Operations SME
- Senior Data Scientist
- Data Analyst (DOJ)
- much more

The Pentagon roles support the DoD Chief Information Officer’s Electromagnetic Spectrum Enterprise Policy and Programs Directorate (EMSEPP). The responsibilities including drafting and coordinating updated versions of the DoD’s Electromagnetic Spectrum Superiority Strategy and developing policy that preserves the Department’s ability to access and use the spectrum globally. Like I said before on another post, this is people writing the strategy governing how the DoD approaches the electromagnetic spectrum. The Aberdeen PKI role sits on an installation that houses the C5ISR Center and Army Contracting Command, which also carries that contingency language we’ve been talking about. The Instructional Designer role supports the September 11th VCF (Victim Compensation Fund) project and the myVCF claims processing systems. Quantico and Fort Belvoir host information operations planners, IO instructors, cyberspace operations and electronic warfare subject matter experts, a military deception planner, an intelligence analyst.

Now compare that customer set against how Castellum describes itself publicly. The company’s own language is that it is a technology company providing cybersecurity, software development, systems engineering, information and electronic warfare, program support, and data analytics services but the hiring data describes a firm operating across DoD CIO spectrum policy, Army offensive cyber, Army Cyber Command, Navy carrier aviation systems, NAVAIR program management, DOJ civil litigation IT modernization, information operating training, geospatial intelligence, data science, and Special Operations Command. The majority of those customers have never appeared in the company’s press release, investor presentations or any filings that I know of.

What the data supports is that the backlog is being converted and we’re watching it happen in real-time. Clearance capacity is being built ahead of the contracts that will require it and that the disclosed scope of the company understates the actual scope. None of our findings generates a headline but the aggregate of the work is what I would consider the connective tissue of a functioning defensive enterprise. This is what the growth shows and how the fundamentals only continue to get larger. We are going to keep building this record because the scope of what Castellum does deserves to be understood rigorously and accurately. The postings resolve before the disclosures do so we intend to keep reading them.

After months of previous attempts to negotiate a peaceful transfer of ownership of the subreddit and being turned down repeatedly, we have officially taken over the largest Castellum subreddit. This is a significant moment for all of us investors alike, for every shareholder who supported this community, and for everyone else who was ever unfairly removed from this community.

The previous owner of this subreddit banned a combined 500 members from this forum. Users were removed because they disagreed with the owner, asked questions he didn't welcome, or simply existed as a presence he didn't want in a space he treated as his own platform. The first actions we took upon taking ownership was to restore access to every single one of those members. Every user removed in this subreddit has been welcomed back, and every user who was previously banned under any established rule during that period has also been unbanned. We understand that these users didn't deserve what happened, and we're committed to ensuring that never happens again.

With that being said, here's what this community will look like going forward:

Whether you just joined this community and have no idea what Castellum is, or you just purchased your first shares of the company and are still trying to learn about what the company does, or you've spent months like us pulling information and studying Castellum and its growth with due diligence, you have a place here in this community. The goal has always been a community where the experience level doesn't get to determine your worth here as a member. The users asking foundational questions today is often the person contributing towards actual real and sourceable analysis eventually, and therefore we believe in that progression and we intend to support it.

The standard of information in this community will be changing. When something is confirmed either through an SEC filing, a federal contract database, a press release, or any verified source, we will distinguish that from a thesis, or an educated read on a pattern we're tracking, or a connection we believe is real but hasn't been publicly confirmed yet. This distinction matters because your decisions should be based on understanding not just what the information says but how solid the ground under it actually is. The community is gaining a bigger platform at exactly the right time, the contracts are continuing to be known, and Castellum's fundamentals are growing for every shareholder to see. We want to make sure we stay on top of this information so that the community can make the best informed decisions possible.

This subreddit serves as an open forum for questions, discussion, and news sharing while our Discord server is where the deeper research conversations will continue to happen. You may feel free to use one, use both, or move between them depending on what you need on a given day. The rules governing both communities are synchronized as the standard we set should be consistent regardless of which platform you desire to be more active on. On the subject of rules, we have them and we will enforce them but we are not a community that aims to be heavy-handed with moderation. As long as users are conducting themselves appropriately with the rules we've established, we have no interest in nitpicking or over-enforcing rules. This is meant to be an open, productive space for investor discussion and we trust the community to carry itself accordingly. With that being said, we will always continue to enforce, without exception, respect among all members in this server as well as any inappropriate content posted. Any messages, media, or discussion deemed too suggestive, explicit, or otherwise inappropriate for this server will be removed, and we ask that members show professionalism. This is subject to moderator discretion as we tend to be more laxed with regards to mems and other related forms of content.

Over the coming weeks, more information will be posted in the interest of communicating more effectively about the company, what it does, and much more. We anticipate that the website re-design launch for Castellum will provide much more information about their products and technology, of which are hugely important and valuable to understand their scope of work. We appreciate everyone who has been a part of this community and we look forward to continuing to build something valuable here together.

Discord server: https://discord.gg/DPb65tYcT

HC1047-26-R-0015, Electromagnetic Spectrum (EMS) Services — Applied Engineering, Spectrum, and Electromagnetic Environmental Effects (E3) Engineering Analysis Support, is a contract which performs spectrum and E3 engineering to DoD. This contract has a ceiling of roughly $38.7 million, five-year base ordering period with the anticipated start date August 3, 2026

I can confirm that Peraton is the incumbent of the predecessor contract that was awarded, HC104721D0002, which they’ve held since 2021. That contract performance period has ended as of May 18, 2026. They’re bidding to win the recompete, and once they do, Corvus will continue to be a subcontractor to that award.

Also, based on my research, I think it is likely Corvus is actively working to be a subcontractor under the DOJ Civil Division 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund Modernization, 15JPSS24F00000502, held by Yudrio, Inc. with a $38.2 million contract value, awarded under GSA MAS five-year task order, Women-Owned Small Business set-aside. This is why the Instructional Designer job posting is important as the responsibilities enlisted directly link with this contract. Corvus is possibly looking to position as a subcontractor to Yudrio for the training and instructional design process of the myVCF rollout.

Corvus still has $28.9M ceiling remaining in its subcontractor award of $131 million, of which $103 million has already been paid.
https://www.highergov.com/subcontract/GS00Q14OADU117-47QFCA24F0006-PO-0058480/

The CTM Team is hard at work, and Corvus is another subsidiary they’re improving drastically. GTMR with the largest awarded contract in its history, SSI contracts to continue support systems engineering and development, and now Corvus as a highly valued subcontractor. Look very much forward to the next few quarters as Corvus continues to develop and grow as a crucial contributor to these projects.

Contract was awarded back on May 15th

Details:
“The purpose of this action is to award the task order cobra, and provide incremental funding to the task order. Work performed includes leveraging robust and emerging Modeling & Simulation (M&S) capabilities to enhance joint and partner national warfighter readiness, providing engineering support including operations planning and execution for S2SCJFSCC operations directorate (S3), and delivering program management and systems engineering such as design, development, and technical services for task coordination and execution on behalf of pma 251. Additional tasks include Earned Value Management (EVM) scheduling support services to the nawcadlke Support Equipment (SE) and aircraft launch and recovery (ALRE) cost and schedule analysis team, as well as program management and engineering services related to hardware and software across the aircraft launch and recovery equipment portfolio. The award also covers systems and software engineering, specifically expertise in rte.”

https://www.highergov.com/subcontract/47QFCA22D0337-47QFCA25F0032-P010297196/

I make this lengthy and comprehensive post in order to connect everything together and help people understand what Corvus Consulting is truly doing and why I feel, as an investor, most optimistic about their growth for the next several years. It is important that we as investors continue to make the best informed decisions based on facts and logic, and not through a manipulated stock price driven by former founders, algos, and shorts. The real measure of growth is the fundamentals, and they are growing very rapidly.

Before we get to the job postings we spoke about earlier, you need to understand what Peraton Labs actually is why their relationship with Corvus means what it means. Peraton is a $7 billion national security company. They operate at the most sensitive intersections of defense, intelligence, and cyber that exist in the U.S. government contracting ecosystem. The Department of Defense Chief Information Officer chose Peraton specficially to build OSCAR, an artifical-intelligence driven real-time spectrum management system across DoD field exercises globally with a permanent installation at Fort Huachuca. The DoD CIO chose Peraton again in January 2026 as a prime contractor under the Advanced Spectrum Coexistence Demonstration program to develop technology specficially designed to protect the spectrum bands that the Golden Dome depends on. Peraton is also the incumbent on DISA's EMS Applied Engineering contract covering technical advice on domestic and international spectrum matters. When the DoD CIO needs spectrum technology built and deployed at scale, they call Peraton; that relationship has been consistent and expanding for years, and will continue to expand for the next several years.

Now here is where Corvus enters the picture.

Corvus Consulting has a subcontract record under the $800M+ Army Cyber Command contract held by Peraton. One of the largest and most sensitive defense contractors in the country had chosen a company most people have never heard of to perform work, described as supporting Cyber and Electronic Warfare done at the Army Staff level. Castellum's 2024 annual report mentioned Peraton in one sentence: "An annual contract with Peraton, Inc. with multiple renewal option periods is a T&M contract the cyber and electronic warefare work done at the Army Staff level" I have used this statement to show you that there's been a relationship at play between the two companies for years. Then, the first tranche of $18.1 million was awarded to Corvus in April 2025. Then followed by the second tranche of $20 million in July, then the third tranche of $21.3 million in September, then the fourth tranche of $22.3 million in December, and now the fifth tranche that was awarded to Corvus on March 30. The March tranche landed on the last day of Q1 meaning Peraton pre-funded Corvus's work before the quarter even started. That is $103 million obligated across five consecutive quarters, with a $28.9 million ceiling remaining.

You don't escalate payments to a subcontractor for five straight quarters unless the customer on the other end keeps asking for more of the same capability and you keep turning to the same subcontractor to deliver on it. What Corvus has, specialized expertise at the intersection of electronic warfare, electromagnetic spectrum policy, and DoD CIO operations, is exactly what Peraton needs. The DoD CIO trusts Peraton with its most important spectrum missions. Peraton trusts Corvus with the specialized layer those missions consisted. To what extent does this relationship extend?

Castellum posted four different roles under Corvus Consulting. Two EW/EMSO Program Integration Leads at the Pentagon, and two contingent roles in Arlington. The Pentagon roles require TS/SCI and 10+ years at the service level. That combination already tells you something on its own. TS/SCI cleared professionals with a decade of Service-level experience are not easy to find, not cheap to recruit, and not worth pursuing unless the work is confirmed. The posting reads: "This position is located onsite at the Pentagon in direct support of a high-priority DoD mission" Corvus has personnel supporting the DoD CIO's EMSEPP Directorate, the office responsible for setting electromagnetic spectrum policy across the entire U.S. military.

To understand why that matters you have to understand what EMSEPP is actually dealing with right now. The Acting DoD CIO at the time in 2025 testified to the House Armed Services Committee that "the only way we can achieve Golden Dome right now is having the lower three of the spectrum." Golden Dome is Trump's homeland missile defense architecture and its entire detection and intercept capability depends on uncontested access to the 3.1 to 3.45 GHz band. If those bands get auctioned to commercial 5G operators or restricted through international treaty, the detection systems that feed Golden Dome suddenly go blind. EMSEPP has to fight that battle on two fronts simultaneously: domestically against telecom industry pressure to auction those bands, and internationally against adversaries who have been working ITU and WRC proceedings for years to constrain U.S. military spectrum access through regulatory mechanisms rather than kinetic means. Corvus personnel are inside that office running the response to that campaign.

Now look at the RF Engineer and Policy Analyst roles and the picture gets even clearer. Both posted on the same day, both of them at the same location and both with the same type of salaries. Both explicitly contingent on contract award. In government contracting, when you see two roles posted simultaneously at that level with identical contingency language, that means that the subcontractor, Corvus in this case, is preparing to execute on work that the prime, Peraton, is about to award them. The government communicates the award decision to the prime before the announcement, the prime tells the subcontractor, and the subcontractor starts recruiting because you have to build the workforce capable of executing on the awarded work.

The RF Engineer role names the mission directly: "DoD CIO Persistent Spectrum Monitoring Mission across global DoD environments" Persistent global DoD environments. Personally, based on my research, I believe this has to do with the long awaited Golden Dome project that we've been waiting on task orders for. This is an active, continuous, real-time operational mission, sensors distributed across every theather the U.S. military operates in, watching the electromagnetic spectrum around the clock, detecting jamming, interference, and adversary activity the moment it happens. The urgency behind that mission became impossible to ignore after Operation Epic Fury, when the Space Force admitted that U.S. space and electromagnetic capabilities were targeted and destroyed in combat for the first in American history. The direction of plans and programs said publicly in May that their capabilities were targeted and destroyed and that they expect that to happen more. The response was five new global Space Force EW tactical operations centers being built across the homeland and abroad. There is currently one in existence. Each new center needs persistent spectrum monitoring capability feeding it in real time. The RF Engineer Corvus posted for designs and maintains the RF architecture behind those capabilities.

The Policy Analyst is the other half of the same contract. ITU, WRC, CITEL, the international forums where the U.S. negotiates spectrum access at the policy level. WRC-27 preparation is active right now and the U.S. interagency process is building the positions that will be negotiated at the next WRC. Positions that determine whether the frequency bands the DoD's persistent monitoring sensors operate on remain protected under international or get carved up through regulatory process that adversaries have been deliberately manipulating. You cannot build a global spectrum monitoring network on frequencies your adversaries have successfully lobbied to restrict internationally. The RF Engineer builds the sensors, and the Policy Analyst protects the spectrum those sensors depend on.

My read is that Peraton is the prime on the award those two contingent roles are pointing to. That's the inference I can make right now based on my research and analysis but it makes sense if you've been following me: Peraton is the incumbent and the dominant company in DoD CIO and DISA spectrum engineering, so I believe they're the clear favorite to be awarded. And given the pattern of Peraton handing Corvus spectrum and EW work, the most probable outcome is that Corvus performs the specialized work as Peraton's subcontractor. Time will tell but I am certainly confident that Castellum will continue to go to work and deliver as it already is.

Yesterday, Castellum, through Corvus Consulting, posted a Policy Analyst - DoD/ITU role out of Arlington, VA. Full time, $165,000-$185,000, and right on the top it says:

CONTINGENT UPON CONTRACT AWARD

https://workforcenow.adp.com/mascsr/default/mdf/recruitment/recruitment.html?cid=244ae70f-13c8-4ab6-b68a-c2964191a80a&ccId=19000101_000001&lang=en_US&jobId=620974

This language suggests that Corvus has already submitted a bid on a specific government contract and is pre-positioning their workforce to mobilize immediately upon award. That action suggests they are confident that they are going to win whatever contract they bid on. The contract is in the pipeline, and the hire confirms it.

From my research, this analyst position sits at the intersection of international diplomacy, military spectrum operations, and national security supporting the U.S. government's positions in the forums where electromagnetic spectrum access gets won or lost. In this position, they will:

- Analyze ITU, WRC, and ITU-R Study Group proceedings for impacts to DoD operations, satellite communications, spectrum access, and national security

- Develop policy papers, decision memoranda, talking points, and leadership-ready presentations for senior government officials

- Coordinate across DoD, NTIA, FCC, Department of State, Combatant Commands, coalition partners, and international stakeholders

- Assess technical and policy tradeoffs involving spectrum, satellite systems, 5G/6G, non-terrestial networks, sensing, and interference protection

- Support U.S. preparation for ITU, WRC, and CITEL/PCC.II, the Inter-American regional telecommunications forum

- Serve as the subject matter expert translating complex spectrum issues into clear recommendations for decision-makers

This is an individual tasked with briefing senior leaders and shapes US government positions at international negotiating tables.

For some context:

The ITU is the UN agency that governs global telecommunications. Every frequency band used by military radar, GPS, satellite communications, and electronic warfare has to be protected through international agreements negotiated at the World Radiocommunication Conference, held every four years.

China and Russia don't just contest the spectrum on the battlefield. They contest it differently, showing up to ITU forums with coordinated delegations and technical proposals designated to erode US military spectrum access through treaty. The next WRC is WRC-27. This role specifically exists to make sure that the US government doesn't lose that fight at the negotiating table before a single shot is fired.

Corvus is getting to work. The subsidiary is simultaneously hiring EW/EMSO specialists supporting the EMSEPP Directoriate, the office that sets electromagnetic spectrum policy for the US military. The ITU/WRC contract is the layer sitting on top of the domestic and operational work Corvus is already executing. This is a deliberate, systematic build-out of a full-stack electromagnetic spectrum advisory practice covering each layer of how the government thinks about and operates in the spectrum domain.

The market is pricing this company like it has no pipeline, no strategic positioning, and no capabilities. What the job postings have been telling us for weeks now is Corvus is quietly constructing one of the most strategically relevant electromagnetic spectrum in the DoD contractor ecosystem. The people protecting spectrum access at international negotiating tables, shaping doctrine and policy at the Pentagon, and briefing senior leaders on decisions that determine whether US forces can communicate and operate in these environments, this is what Corvus aims to do.

It is difficult to locate this information about Corvus but when you dig deep, do the research, and analyze their moves through events like a job posting, you begin to understand how important their work truly is right now. What they are building is significant.

Hi Reddit community,

I'll be honest with you, it hasn't been easy holding through all the ups and downs. The war started, the price had dropped to a low of $0.45 for the year and a lot of people understandably got nervous. If you held from that point to where we're at now, then you can honestly call yourself a long term holder. I get it, nobody likes watching their position go red. But our community over at Discord made a decision early on that we weren't going to let short term price movement shake us out of a long term thesis, and I think today's update reflects that.

We just crossed 300+ members in the server, and I'm happy to say that collectively, as a community, we are holding over 5,060,000+ shares of $CTM.

That is 5.36% of the Total Shares Outstanding (94.6M), and 6.08% of the Share Float (83.2M).

I want you to really think about what that means. This isn't a hedge fund nor institutional money moving through the stock; this is regular people, people who found the company, who found the stock, did their research, and made a decision to hold conviction in Castellum. And together, without coordinating a single purchase, we've quietly accumulated over 6% of the float. That is a very significant milestone.

But that's just underselling it. A good number of members in the server still haven't shared how many shares they're holding. And that's before you even account for the people out there holding $CTM who don't even know this community exists yet. So if you're reading this and you're not in the server, come join us. Whether you're holding 100 shares of 100,000 shares, you belong here.

With the amount of fundamentals we have, $273M Backlog for multi-year contracted revenue visibility, $938M qualified pipeline, 16x their annual run rate, Debt free with $15.8M in cash, 23% year-over-year growth, not accounting for their upcoming accretive acquisition, and $219M in contracts that are set for the next 5 years with no recompetes, there is no stock right now trading at this price with these fundamentals. Glen challenged people during the shareholders meeting to locate them, but they can't be located because they simply don't exist!

https://discord.gg/jJRh62vKF

So I was going through Castellum's job postings from yesterday and noticed something I think is being overlooked. They dropped 7 new roles at once. Most of them make sense on the surface: software engineers, platform engineers, a scrum master. That's just them staffing up for the Navy contracts everyone already knows about through SSI.

But two of the job postings caught my eye: both EW/EMSO roles under Corvus Consulting, one of CTM's subsidiaries which has been relatively quiet for the past few months. The positions are supporting the DoD's CIO's EMSEPP Directorate at the Pentagon. For those who don't know, EMSEPP is basically the office that sets electromagnetic spectrum policy for the entire U.S. military. Things like EW strategy, spectrum operations, international regulatory forums.

Corvus isn't new to this. They have Frank Moglia, their DoD Chief Information Officer Strategic Plans and Policy lead, who has been embedded in that world for years. His most recent activity touches on exactly what these roles are being hired for: the need for combat commands to seriously address electromagnetic spectrum in modern warfare.
(https://www.linkedin.com/posts/frankmoglia\_latestnews-ew-activity-7448424014705766400-PXzQ)

That lines up with something Lt. Gen. Dan Caine said at his confirmation hearing for Chairman of the Joint Chiefs back in April. He told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the US military has lost EW muscle memory after two decades of uncontested warfare, that current training ranges are inadequate, and that the Pentagon needs to urgently reinvest in electromagnetic warfare capability. That's coming from the guy who is running the entire U.S. military.

(https://www.airandspaceforces.com/caine-us-electronic-warfare-skills/)

The reason I think these Corvus hires are funded work and not speculative is because both roles require TS/SCI clearance an 10+ years at the Service level or above. Nobody posts for that kind of talent without a contract behind it. The clearance pool is too small and expensive. What makes it interesting from an investment standpoint is that Castellum never press releases Corvus the way they do with SSI and GTMR. The $103.3M GTMR Contract, the $66.2M and $49.8M SSI contracts all examples. Corvus work quietly doesn't show up, you have to actually dig deep and do research to understand their nature of work. This part of the business has been growing in the background and almost nobody outside the company is tracking it.

Take a look at recent geopolitical developments:
- The Dutch frigate HNLMS De Ruyter and its embarked helicopter entered the airspace of the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea. China organized naval and air forces and took measures including verbal warnings and "warning electronic interference" to expel the ship. China rarely openly confirms the operational deployment of electronic warfare capabilities during real-time maritime confrontations with foreign military vessels.
- Russia has been jamming Ukrainian drones so aggressively so that GPS signals disappear, video feeds cut out, turning the electromagnetic spectrum into a weapon. Ukraine responded by switching to fiber-optic guided drones that can't be jammed, so Russia is arming their own drones with electronic defenses to survive Ukrainian jamming.
- US space capabilities were being targeted and destroyed for the first time during Operation Epic Fury. Now the Space Force is publicly admitting its capabilities were destroyed in combat and is rushing to build EW tactical operation centers in response

I've just pointed out three instances where electromagnetic spectrum operations are actively being used out in the field right now. Meanwhile, Corvus already has, and are actively hiring people to directly support the DoD CIO office responsible for shaping electromagnetic spectrum policy across the entire US military.

If you want more information and due diligence like this, feel free to join the discord server where we talk about these things and more in-depth:

https://discord.gg/9b9QujUbN

Just posting this here (lol) for more others interested in learning more about Castellum, talking about general market sentiment news, and other trades:

https://discord.gg/azVUMK5ef

Castellum, Inc. has announced that it has selected The Equity Group as its new investor relations company. The Equity Group is a premier IR firm that specializes in comprehensive, strategic IR and corporate communications for companies. The firm helped launch the modern practice of investor relations and financial communications, and is deeply-rooted in long-term client relations. The firm has several decades of investor access experience and a broad investment community network.

Here's examples of the work they've done:

1. Back in October 2020, Apollo Medical Holdings ($AMEH) was considred significantly undervalued and unnoticed. The Equity Group created a new investor presentation, managed a new corporate website, initiated quarterly earnings calls, drafted corporate announcements, introduced potential investors and analysts, and secured an active schedule of investor conferences and NDRs. They also helped attain analyst coverage and launched ApolloMed's inaugural ESG report.

Co-CEO's remarks about The Equity Group:
"When we engaged The Equity Group, we felt that ApolloMed was significantly undervalued and unnoticed. We wanted a substantial change to our investor relations strategy, with a partner willing to roll up their sleeves and jump into the trenches with the management team. In short order, our Equity Group team lead applied best-in-class investor relations expertise with a hands-on and tireless approach and provided the critical investor relations elements necessary to properly position us in the marketplace. The Equity Group helped us revamp and clarify our story with potential investors, many of which became shareholders. Less than nine months later, our shares had appreciated more than 5 times. The Equity Group has the rare ability to make each of their clients feel like they are their only client and continues to ensure the clear communication of the shareholder value creation at ApolloMed."

2. In July 2004, with just a market cap of just $25 million, no analyst coverage, and only two institutional holders owning less than 3% of shares, The Equity Group developed key investment messages, crafted quarterly earnings releases, built communications around two major acquisitions totaling nearly $500 million in transaction value, organized investor roadshows, and handled all IR administration. The market cap exceeded $2 billion, with 75% institutional ownership and coverage by D.A. Davidson and KeyBanc

Former Director and CFO:
"Having worked with The Equity Group in the past, I had no hesitation in again engaging the firm when Sterling needed to institute an investor relations program. As I had expected, Sterling has been very satisfied with the quality of the work, breadth of contacts, and the responsiveness of the firm. We expect to continue with The Equity Group and to expand its role as Sterling grows.

3. Limbach Holdings, a Mechanical Contracting group, started in 2016 with a $60M market cap with no analyst coverage, and by the end of 2023 the market cap reached $500 million, a 733% increase after The Equity Group built their full IR program from scrtch post-SPAC.

4. Axsys Technologies in Defense/Aerospace Optics started in 2004 at $13/share with 30% institutional ownership. The Equity Group grew institutional holdings to 59% and the stock ultimately reached $54/share when Axsys was acquired by General Dynamics

5. The Equity Group helped Tecnoglass complete a SPAC merger and become the first Columbia-headquartered company listed on the NASDAQ, with the stock appreciating 75% within two years

6. Two River Bancorp, which started at $7.75/share with $70 million market cap, had its institutional ownership increased from 23% to 40% and the market to $175 million before the company was acquired by OceanFirst at $20.79/share

Now that you have seen their past work, look forward to what is next with Castellum. All those months of reaching out to management has paid off, and they have indeed listened to us. Let's keep it going.