Boeing said its Phantom Works’ Advanced Coatings Center in St. Louis will house state-of-the-art, post-assembly phases of future military aircraft production. (Boeing)
BERKELEY, Mo. (Tribune News Service) — Boeing is building a secure, 47,500-square-foot “Phantom Works” facility that will focus on future military aircraft, the company announced today.
Phantom Works is the research, development and prototyping division of Boeing‘s defense unit. The new building is in addition to the company’s existing Phantom Works site in St. Louis County, and will be located adjacent to it. It is expected to be operational in 2025.
Most of the work at Phantom Works is classified, said Steve Nordlund, senior site executive for Boeing St. Louis.
The company added a new advanced composite fabrication center in Mesa, Arizona, last year, and opened a lab and test facility in the St. Louis area over the winter.
“We’re not done,” Nordlund said Thursday morning. “We’re on a steady diet of investments.”
Nordlund previously served as general manager of Phantom Works. Nordlund said in February that Boeing‘s recent, local hiring has had an emphasis on engineers, a sign that the company is looking toward its future products.
Boeing has about 15,800 employees in the St. Louis area, its second-largest workforce after Washington state. The St. Louis operations are mostly focused on defense products like the F-18 and F-15 fighter jets, the T-7A trainer plane and the MQ-25 refueling drone.
Earlier this year the company revealed plans to end new-build production of the F/A-18 Super Hornet in 2025. The aging fighter jet line had been on a trajectory to wind down for years, but the February announcement was the first publicly disclosed timeline. Production could be extended into 2027 if Boeing received more orders from the Indian Navy.
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