Ukraine missile maker targets ‘game changer’ air defense system by 2027

Fire Point, maker of Ukraine’s Flamingo cruise missile, is in talks with European companies to launch a new air defense system by next year, a senior executive told Reuters, creating a low-cost alternative to the increasingly hard-to-get Patriot system .

With governments seeking to defend their skies as the wars in Ukraine and Iran sow global instability, Fire Point’s co-founder and chief designer Denys Shtilierman said it aimed to slash the cost of intercepting a ballistic missile to below $1 million.

Shtilierman also said Fire Point was awaiting government approval for an investment by a Middle Eastern conglomerate that valued the company at $2.5 billion and would open the door to new business opportunities, including low-orbit satellite launches.

Years of know-how gained on the battlefield fighting Russian forces have made Ukraine a leading innovator in low-cost defense tech. With the outbreak of war in the Gulf, Kyiv has leveraged that expertise to sign security agreements with governments across the region.

Many Ukrainian defense firms are now seeking to export their excess capacity and cash in on a global boom in military spending. While the government recently loosened wartime export restrictions, each proposed deal is still subject to stringent checks and state approval.

Ukraine and many other Western-allied nations rely heavily on the U.S.-made Patriot system to stop ballistic missiles.

But Patriot missiles are in increasingly short supply amid extensive deployment in the Gulf against Iranian attacks. And Europe’s only anti-ballistic system, the Italo-French SAMP/T, is produced in relatively small numbers.

To bring down a ballistic projectile, the Patriot system - manufactured by Raytheon and Lockheed Martin - often requires two or three air defense missiles, each costing several million dollars, Shtilierman said.

“If we can decrease it to less than $1 million, it will be ... a game changer in air defense solutions,” he said in an interview. “We plan to intercept the first ballistic missile at the end of 2027.”

Denys Shtilerman, the Fire Point company chief designer and co-founder. (Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters)

Shtilierman declined to name the European companies involved in the discussions to develop the new system but said Fire Point is “deeply interested” in collaboration on radar, missile target-seeking and communications systems - areas where it lacks expertise.

European companies including Weibel, Hensoldt, SAAB and Thales have good radar solutions, he noted.

Founded after Moscow’s 2022 invasion, Fire Point is Ukraine’s biggest maker of the long-range drones used in the majority of strikes deep inside Russia.

In recent months, its FP5 long-range cruise missile - commonly known as the Flamingo - has also been used to hit Russian military facilities and arms factories, including a ballistic missile plant nearly 1,400 km (870 miles) inside Russian territory.

Shtilierman said Fire Point was now in the final stages of developing two supersonic ballistic missiles.

The smaller FP-7 missile, with a range of around 300 km, will have its first military deployment “in the close future”, he said, describing it as similar to Lockheed Martin’s ATACMS short-range ballistic system.

The larger FP-9, capable of carrying an 800 kg warhead up to 850 km, is about to enter testing and would place Moscow within range of Ukraine’s ballistic arsenal, he added.

Shtilierman said strikes on Moscow, which is ringed by some of the world’s most formidable air defenses, would cause a “mass shift in the Russian mind and the mind of top guys in Russia.”

Russia’s defense ministry did not respond to a request for comment.

Fabian Hoffmann, a missile expert and senior researcher at the Norwegian Defence University College, said that, while Russia has experience in successfully downing ATACMS, more widespread use of ballistic missiles could stretch Russian air defenses, already degraded by Ukrainian strikes.

And while Fire Point’s 2027 target for launching a low-cost air defense system was “ambitious”, he said that, beyond Ukraine’s own military needs, there would be strong demand from governments even if its kill rates per missile were less effective than the Patriot’s.

Ukraine’s anti-monopoly authority has until around October to decide on the proposed $760-million acquisition of a 30% stake in Fire Point by the Middle Eastern investor, Shtilierman said.

Ukrainian media have identified the suitor as Emirati defense firm Edge Group. Edge Group and Ukraine’s anti-monopoly authorities did not respond to a request for comment.

The investment would be the first step in a project to build a space launch terminal in the UAE, with the aim of eventually establishing a constellation of low-orbit European satellites. Shtilierman said the country’s location next to the Indian Ocean and geographical conditions were favorable for space launches.

“We built a carbon winding machine, which allows us to wind a big solid rocket booster for satellite delivery,” he said, noting the project remained at the conceptual stage although there were already agreements “with a couple of Western companies”.

Regardless of whether the UAE deal proceeds, Shtilierman said Fire Point would not take on further investors until after it had demonstrated success with its missile defense system, which will use the company’s FP7 missile. .

Fire Point has, meanwhile, received interest from Gulf states for purchases of its existing drone products and is awaiting approval from Ukraine’s government to begin exports. Shtilierman said the company has monthly capacity to export up to 2,500 long-range drones.

Exporting the Flamingo missile, however, is much more difficult due to regulatory barriers, he said.

Fire Point says it makes hundreds of long-range strike drones a day, each costing about 50,000 euros ($57,775) to produce, and three Flamingo missiles, at a cost of about 600,000 euros apiece. He acknowledged some “bottleneck” issues with the Flamingo, including with engine production.

Fire Point will increase production of the Flamingo when a new, in-house engine goes into mass production in October and a rocket fuel plant in Denmark comes online later this year, he said. The plant is awaiting two final approvals from Danish authorities.

乌克兰“火烈鸟”巡航导弹制造商 Fire Point 的一位高管告诉路透社，该公司正在与欧洲公司洽谈，计划明年推出一种新的防空系统，以低成本替代日益难以获得的“爱国者”系统。

随着乌克兰和伊朗战争加剧全球动荡，各国政府都在寻求保卫领空，Fire Point 的联合创始人兼首席设计师 Denys Shtilierman 表示，该公司的目标是将拦截弹道导弹的成本削减到 100 万美元以下。

施蒂利尔曼还表示，火点公司正在等待政府批准一家中东企业集团的投资，该投资对公司的估值为 25 亿美元，并将为公司带来新的商业机会，包括低轨道卫星发射。

多年来与俄军作战积累的经验，使乌克兰成为低成本国防技术领域的领先创新者。随着海湾战争的爆发，基辅利用这些专业知识与该地区各国政府签署了安全协议。

许多乌克兰国防企业正寻求出口过剩产能，以期在全球军费开支激增的背景下获利。尽管乌克兰政府近期放宽了战时出口限制，但每项拟议交易仍需经过严格审查和政府批准。

乌克兰和许多其他西方盟国严重依赖美国制造的“爱国者”导弹防御系统来拦截弹道导弹。

但由于在海湾地区大规模部署“爱国者”导弹以应对伊朗的袭击，其供应日益短缺。而欧洲唯一的反弹道导弹系统——意法联合研制的SAMP/T——产量也相对较小。

施蒂利尔曼说，为了击落弹道导弹，由雷神公司和洛克希德·马丁公司制造的“爱国者”系统通常需要两到三枚防空导弹，每枚导弹的成本高达数百万美元。

“如果我们能将成本降低到100万美元以下，那将……彻底改变防空解决方案，”他在一次采访中说道。“我们计划在2027年底拦截第一枚弹道导弹。”

丹尼斯·施蒂勒曼，Fire Point公司首席设计师兼联合创始人。（瓦伦丁·奥吉连科/路透社）

施蒂利尔曼拒绝透露参与新系统开发讨论的欧洲公司名称，但他表示，火点公司对在雷达、导弹目标搜索和通信系统方面开展合作“非常感兴趣”——而这些领域正是该公司缺乏专业知识的领域。

他指出，包括 Weibel、Hensoldt、SAAB 和 Thales 在内的欧洲公司拥有优秀的雷达解决方案。

Fire Point 公司成立于 2022 年莫斯科入侵之后，是乌克兰最大的远程无人机制造商，其生产的无人机被用于俄罗斯境内的大多数打击行动。

近几个月来，其FP5远程巡航导弹（俗称“火烈鸟”）也被用于袭击俄罗斯军事设施和武器工厂，其中包括位于俄罗斯境内近1400公里（870英里）的弹道导弹工厂。

施蒂利尔曼表示，火点导弹公司目前正处于研发两款超音速弹道导弹的最后阶段。

他表示，射程约 300 公里的较小 FP-7 导弹将在“不久的将来”首次投入军事部署，并将其描述为类似于洛克希德·马丁公司的 ATACMS 短程弹道导弹系统。

他还补充说，更大的FP-9导弹能够携带8​​00公斤重的弹头射程达850公里，即将进入测试阶段，这将使莫斯科进入乌克兰弹道导弹武库的射程之内。

施蒂列尔曼表示，对莫斯科的袭击（莫斯科周围环绕着世界上最强大的防空系统之一）将导致“俄罗斯民众和俄罗斯高层人士的思想发生巨大转变”。

俄罗斯国防部未回应置评请求。

挪威国防大学学院的导弹专家兼高级研究员法比安·霍夫曼表示，虽然俄罗斯有成功击落ATACMS的经验，但更广泛地使用弹道导弹可能会使俄罗斯的防空系统不堪重负，而该系统已经因乌克兰的袭击而遭到削弱。

尽管火点公司提出的 2027 年推出低成本防空系统的目标“雄心勃勃”，但他表示，除了乌克兰自身的军事需求外，即使其每枚导弹的杀伤率不如爱国者导弹系统有效，各国政府也会有强烈的需求。

施蒂利尔曼表示，乌克兰反垄断机构必须在 10 月左右之前决定中东投资者拟以 7.6 亿美元收购 Fire Point 30% 股份的提议。

乌克兰媒体已确认竞购方为阿联酋国防企业Edge Group。Edge Group和乌克兰反垄断机构均未回应置评请求。

这项投资将是阿联酋建设航天发射场项目的第一步，其最终目标是建立一个低轨道欧洲卫星星座。施蒂利尔曼表示，阿联酋毗邻印度洋，地理条件优越，非常适合航天发射。

“我们制造了一台碳纤维绕线机，可以绕制用于卫星运输的大型固体火箭助推器，”他说道，并指出该项目仍处于概念阶段，尽管已经与“几家西方公司”达成了协议。

施蒂利尔曼表示，无论与阿联酋的交易是否进行，火点公司在证明其导弹防御系统（将使用该公司的FP7导弹）取得成功之前，都不会接受新的投资者。

与此同时，Fire Point公司已收到海湾国家对其现有无人机产品的采购意向，并正在等待乌克兰政府批准其出口。Shtilierman表示，该公司每月可出口多达2500架远程无人机。

他表示，由于监管障碍，出口“火烈鸟”导弹要困难得多。

Fire Point公司称，该公司每天生产数百架远程攻击无人机，每架生产成本约为5万欧元（57,775美元）；此外，该公司还生产三枚“火烈鸟”导弹，每枚成本约为60万欧元。该公司也承认“火烈鸟”导弹存在一些“瓶颈”问题，包括发动机生产方面的问题。

他表示，Fire Point公司将在10月份自主研发的新型发动机投入量产，以及今年晚些时候丹麦火箭燃料工厂投产后，提高Flamingo火箭的产量。该工厂目前正在等待丹麦当局的两项最终审批。