Scale of production
Ukraine's leading arms company, Fire Point, manufactures about 100 long-range Flamingo cruise missiles a month, along with FP-1 and FP-2 fixed-wing drones at a rate of hundreds per day, according to chief executive Iryna Terekh. The startup was founded in 2022 after Russia's invasion and now operates from 83 factories inside Ukraine and one in Denmark, employing 6,000 people.
Flamingo missiles carry 1,150kg of explosive and cost under $600,000 each. Their flight distance can reach about 1,800km due to complex flight paths. The lighter FP-1 drones have a range of more than 1,000 miles and cost between $55,000 and $75,000.
Deep-strike impact
Fire Point's weapons are used in daily attacks on Russian targets. “I’m not aware of any deep strike attack that was happening in the past few months that was not involving our products,” Terekh said. Missile and drone attacks using Fire Point munitions occur at a daily rate of on average five to 15. In June, a Flamingo missile hit a Russian military components factory at Cheboksary, more than 600 miles from Kharkiv.
Former US general Ben Hodges said: “What we’re seeing now is the result of several years of effort by the Ukrainian side. They can not only reach deep inside Russia with precision and get past Russian air defences, their weapons also carry a payload big enough to achieve effect.”
Future developments
Fire Point is developing Ukraine's first ballistic missiles, with first launch hoped by the end of the year. A variant of the short-range FP-7 will form the basis of the Freyja initiative, an international effort to create an alternative air defence system to the US Patriot. Fire Point will make the launchers and interceptors, with a target cost of $1m per interceptor. Terekh noted that global Patriot production is insufficient: “The whole Pac-3 missile production, the worldwide production rate is around 600-700 missiles per year; and this is exactly the amount of Patriot missiles that were consumed in the Middle East in two weeks.”
Fire Point is largely owned by founder Denys Shtilerman. Terekh, who studied architecture and joined the company in summer 2023 when it employed 18 people, said the invasion forced Ukraine to modernise. “Ukraine, in a postwar economy, will need to be an exporter of things with a high additional added value. We do not want to be like a breadbasket any more for the world,” she said. Fire Point's weapons are not currently exported.
