How It Works

How Phantom
Flies

One Core, a wing system you can reconfigure in the field, and a propulsion layout that handles hover and cruise with the same rotor set.

Core Architecture

One Core.
Every Mission.

The Core holds everything that doesn't change between missions: flight control, power management, compute, thermal regulation, comms. It's the one part you never swap.

STRUCTURE

The Core Carries Load

It isn't a box bolted to the airframe. It's a structural member. Carbon fiber shear webs route wing bending moments straight through it, modeled in FEA to 6g ultimate and 3g in normal operation.

0gUltimate Load

0gOperational

0%Safety Margin

COMPUTING

The Brain Stays Put

Flight controller, the MERCURY processor, power management, thermal control, and mesh comms all live in the Core chassis. Change the wing, change the mission, and the brain doesn't move.

PRODUCTION

Built to Repeat

Every Core is identical. Wings ship to a standard SKU. Payload accessories are modular. That's what makes a fleet of these buildable, not just one prototype.

REPAIR

Fixable in the Field

Designed for 10+ years of service, repairable without sending it back to a depot. One technician, no special tools, full config swap in under three minutes.

0yrService Life

0Technician

Configurable Wing System

Swap Wings, Not Aircraft

One mount connects the Core to whatever wing is attached: mechanically, electrically, and electronically. Reconfigure in the field. No ground support equipment, no calibration step.

MECHANICAL

No Tools, No Guesswork

Spring-loaded alignment pins self-center the wing on attach. The same joint that carries flight loads lets you pull the wing off by hand.

ELECTRICAL

Power That Just Connects

One power bus for propulsion, one for logic, polarity-protected so it can't be plugged in wrong. Hot-swap capable, so the system barely notices the change.

DATA

The System Recognizes the Wing

Sensor data, control-surface signals, and payload bandwidth all run through the same mount. Attach a wing and the Core reads which one it is. No manual setup.

VTOL

Hover Comes With Every Wing

Coaxial propulsion and gimbal vectoring live in the Core itself, not the wing, so every configuration keeps full vertical takeoff and landing by default. Swapping wings never means giving up hover.

0minFull Swap

0Wing Configs

Try the Swap

Wing Release

0:15

Payload Swap

0:45

Wing Attach

0:30

System Check

0:30

Pre-Flight

0:40

Target total: 2:40 · single technician · no tools

Propulsion

One Rotor Set,
Two Flight Modes

Two counter-rotating motors share one thrust axis, mounted on a gimbal below the airframe with continuously variable-pitch blades. Counter-rotation cancels reactive torque without a tail rotor, so there's one axis to align instead of two rotor systems to balance.

01 / DRIVE

Counter-Rotating Drive

Two motors, one axis, opposite spin. Torque cancels itself out: no tail rotor, less drag than side-by-side rotors, and one structural axis to build around instead of two.

02 / BLADES

Variable-Pitch Blades

Pitch changes in flight, not just rotor speed. Flat for hover, steep for cruise: the same blades tuned per phase instead of two different propellers doing two different jobs.

03 / TAKEOFF

Vertical Launch

Spool up, gimbal to vertical, climb on flat pitch for maximum lift. Past transition altitude the gimbal tips forward as pitch increases, one continuous motion into cruise instead of a handoff.

04 / LANDING

Controlled Descent

Throttle margin is never fully spent on the way down. Hover authority stays in reserve the whole descent. The aircraft can set down on slopes or rough ground within designed wind limits.

05 / HOVER

Hover Stability

Rotor wash runs straight over the X-tail ruddervators, giving pitch, yaw, and roll correction in hover with no extra lift motors.

06 / TRANSITION

The Handoff

Control shifts gradually from thrust vectoring to ailerons and ruddervators as airspeed builds. It's a slope, not a switch, so the aircraft is never caught between modes.

Rotor Assembly

Mounted below the airframe, facing down. The mast hangs from the Core, and the rotor disc does the work underneath it. Full propulsion geometry lives in engineering documentation, not on this page.

Propulsion Specifications

Parameter	Hover / VTOL	Cruise	Notes
Drive configuration	Coaxial, counter-rotating	Same	Single thrust axis
Propeller diameter	30–36"	30–36"	Variable-pitch carbon
Peak power draw	4–6 kW	600–900 W	Climb: 1.5–2.5 kW
Battery voltage	12S–14S	Same	High-density Li-ion
Minimum hover thrust	>1.3× MTOW	N/A	Stable ascent margin

Power

Solar That Actually Pulls Its Weight

Solar cells sit in the wing skin, not bolted on top of it. In daylight they cover cruise power with room to spare. At night, a 222Wh battery carries the load.

Desert Hawk Power Budget

Peak solar output600W

Realistic average (80%)480W

Cruise load230W

Daylight surplus+250W

Battery capacity222 Wh

Night reserve46 min

Daylight enduranceUnbounded

Battery Roadmap

From Storage to Structure

2024

NMC 811 Lithium-Ion

Separate module, 2.1kg. Standard energy storage architecture.

222 WhCapacity

2026

Solid-State Lithium

Higher energy density, better thermal stability, same mount interface.

300 WhCapacity

2028

Semi-Structural Battery

Battery cells integrated into non-load-bearing wing skin panels.

350 WhEffective Wh/kg

2030

Full Structural Battery Wing

Carbon fiber as electrode, polymer matrix as electrolyte: the wing is the battery.

420 WhStructural Wh

Structural Margins

The Numbers
Behind the Claims

Every wing-mount assembly is designed to reach ultimate load with no permanent deformation, and to hold operational load with no fatigue over 1,000 flight hours, per current structural analysis. These are analysis and simulation targets, not results from physical test campaigns we've run yet. No flutter predicted below 1.5× dive speed.

Load Case	Limit Load	Ultimate Load (1.5×)	Analysis Result
2.5g level flight	Design cruise	3.75g	Within margin
3.0g pull-up maneuver	Operational limit	4.5g	Within margin
Vertical gust (15 m/s)	Structural limit	N/A	Within margin
Landing ground loads	2× landing weight	3×	Within margin
Ultimate load factor	4g	6g	Within margin (+15%)

DEFLECTION

Wingtip Stays Elastic

Wingtip deflection under operational load stays within the elastic limit, so there's no plastic deformation at limit loads. Flutter speed clears 1.5× max dive speed.

MATERIALS

What It's Actually Made Of

Carbon fiber prepreg primary structure, epoxy matrix, void fraction under 1%. Every allowable already accounts for environmental degradation.

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Have a question, an idea, or just want to know more about Phantom? Whether it's a technical doubt, a collaboration idea, or you just want to say hi, we'd love to hear from you. Shoot us a message, we're always happy to help.

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