Phantom Works

Forging the future of defense

Phantom Works is where imagination meets engineering excellence — a place where bold ideas are shaped to transform the future of defense. Driven by curiosity and relentless problem-solving, our team pushes boundaries across aerospace, autonomy, emerging technologies and advanced materials to create breakthrough capabilities that keep people and warfighters safe, and missions successful. With a culture of collaboration, integrity, and rigorous testing, Phantom Works transforms daring concepts into trusted, operational solutions that inspire confidence and expand what’s possible in the skies and beyond.

Capabilities

Wargaming and Analysis

Boeing’s Virtual Warfare Center (VWC) is one of the most complex modeling, simulation and experimentation environments outside of actual warfare — and has been helping customers out-innovate future threats for more than half a century.

Our cutting-edge, immersive simulation environment empowers collaboration with hundreds of military operators to analyze and participate in thousands of simulated battle scenarios — revolutionizing defense strategies and informing future system and platform development.

Modeling and simulation

Boeing analysts can demonstrate concepts, explore ideas, and develop systems within a virtual environment before committing to specific approaches. Our modeling, simulation and analysis capabilities touch every Boeing Defense, Space & Security program from today to decades in the future.

Immersive wargaming

We lead the industry in complex battlespace simulation, involving hundreds of operators and thousands of simulated scenarios. Virtual battle scenarios can include thousands of air and ground targets, multiple hostile threats and diverse communication networks, enhancing the realism of the training experience.

Collaborative development

Engaging warfighters throughout the development cycle improves decision-making and reduces costs. Partnership with our customers ensures that emerging operational concepts align with real-world needs.

Rapid Prototyping

Phantom Works operates with the speed and agility of a startup powered by the resources of a prime contractor — combining fast iteration, bold experimentation and testing with the scale, engineering rigor, and supply-chain depth of Boeing.

Rapid Prototyping and Advanced R&D

Our team moves quickly from concept to creation. By leveraging advanced manufacturing, cross-disciplinary expertise, strategic partnerships, and production-aligned processes early in development, we de-risk technologies and accelerate the path to operational capability and production-ready solutions that meet mission needs.

Recent examples include both Boeing T-X (now T-7A) and fully autonomous MQ-28 achieving firm concept to first flight in 36 months.

Behind the scenes, and in classified spaces, we’re continuously researching, experimenting and building rapid prototypes of advanced, next-generation systems to defend the seas, skies and space.

Legacy

Our breakthroughs have shaped the world

Thirty years ago, Herman Barkey, the “father” of the F-4, started a special projects team called “Phantom Works” that anticipated future needs and created advanced technologies.

Since then, Phantom Works has blazed the trail for the next generation of advanced technology, from the fastest scramjet-powered hypersonic flight to the first highly autonomous, unmanned air system designed for combat operations. The future is forged at Phantom Works.

We continue to create the unimaginable and bridge the gap between today and tomorrow.

T-7A Red Hawk

From concept to first flight in 36 months, The T-7A advanced trainer was the first Air Force jet designed digitally from the ground up. Learn more

MQ-28 Ghost Bat

Prototyped as the Airpower Teaming System, the MQ-28 Ghost Bat is a pathfinder for the integration of autonomous systems and artificial intelligence that extends air combat and other missions. Learn more

MQ-25 Stingray

The MQ-25 is the world’s first operational, carrier-based unmanned aircraft and provides autonomous aerial refueling and ISR capabilities. Learn more

X-45

Paving the way for the future of unmanned aircraft, the X-45 was the first highly autonomous, unmanned air system designed for combat operations in a network-centric environment.

Bird of Prey

Utilizing our rapid prototyping, Phantom Works’ Bird of Prey proved that it was possible to implement radar evasion attributes and low-observability thresholds in fighter planes.

X-51A WaveRider

The X-51A completed the longest air-breathing scramjet-powered hypersonic flight ever at a top speed of Mach 5.1 — proving the practical application of hypersonic technology.

X-37

The X-37 is an uncrewed, autonomous spaceplane designed for advanced experimentation and technology testing. With its unparalleled flexibility and maneuverability, the X-37 is setting new standards in space exploration. Learn more

Echo Voyager

Echo Voyager was a successful proof of concept design for autonomous underwater vehicle technologies that could operate for months at a time without physical human contact and in congested waters. Learn more

Phantom Ray

Based on the X-45, the Phantom Ray was a stealth unmanned combat air vehicle proving the capability of our rapid prototyping initiative to design, develop and build advanced aircraft.