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Pinal County state land eyed for defense project spanning nearly 5,000 acres
State records show a proposed project called Paperclip could cover nearly 5,000 acres east of San Tan Valley. The land is expected to go to auction in the coming months, but the project’s backers and plans have not been identified in the available details.
A nearly 5,000-acre parcel of Arizona state land in Pinal County is being considered for a defense-related development called Project Paperclip, according to records filed with the Arizona State Land Department.
The site lies east of San Tan Valley and is expected to be auctioned by the state land department in the coming months. The available information does not identify the project’s developer or specify what facilities would be built.
The proposal follows an earlier effort to use state land in the area for a missile-testing facility. California-based Castelion, a hypersonic missile startup founded by former SpaceX employees, explored about 1,000 acres in Pinal County in 2025 before choosing New Mexico for its planned complex. Pinal County supervisors had designated the land for a prospective project called Ranger, named after Castelion’s New Mexico project.
Paperclip could involve almost five times as much land as that earlier proposal. Any development would depend on the state land process and further details about the project, which have not been made public in the available records described so far.