Missiles, satellites and warplanes — Ukraine, Europe advance key arms projects

WARSAW, Poland — Ukraine’s drone and missile maker Fire Point is developing an extended-range tactical ballistic missile after its FP-7 weapon was used in combat for the first time on Oct. 1, the company’s CEO Iryna Terekh said during this year’s Helsinki Security Forum.

As European nations are bracing for intensified Russian hybrid attacks, defense companies are pitching products for different capability gaps, with European and American producers partnering rather than working in isolation, industry representatives said during the event over the weekend.

Fire Point has developed its flagship missile, which has attracted praise from President Volodymyr Zelenskyy , to be part of the pan-European Freyja anti-ballistic missile defense program, with the system’s prototype expected to be ready in the first half of 2027. Meanwhile, the company is working on an extended-range version that is to be released this year, Terekh said during a panel discussion on the first day of the forum, Oct. 2.

“Yesterday we launched our ballistic missile onto Russian territory for the first time. It is a tactical ballistic missile for [a range of] 300 kilometers maximum. We are working on a longer [range] version that will also come this year,” Terekh said. “We were able to make this missile in two years as a private company.”

Fire Point’s executive said the capability is crucial for Ukraine, as the country is joining “a VIP league of operators of their own independent ballistic missiles with no kill switch. We don’t have to ask now anybody if we want to conduct self-defense.”

The Ukrainian authorities have entrusted a private company with developing a key component of the missile defense program because Fire Point has slashed bureaucracy and accelerated research and development on its missile range, she said.

“Also, we were able to make it a few times cheaper than any” competitor, Terekh said.

The forum was officially inaugurated by Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Moldovan President Maia Sandu. Encouraged by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Finland joined NATO in April 2023. In Moldova, concern over intensifying Russian hybrid threats and the war in neighboring Ukraine is pushing the country’s government to seek closer cooperation with NATO, while maintaining its constitutionally mandated neutrality.

“This year, Russian drones have entered our airspace more than 45 times, eight of them in the past week. Last month, Russia deliberately hit Ukraine’s border crossings with Moldova, killing two people,” Sandu said during an Oct. 2 joint press conference with Stubb. “Our answer is to grow stronger. We are investing in air defense, modernizing our Army and raising defense spending.”

During the panel discussion featuring both heads of state, the Finnish president said that Russia has embarked on a campaign of hybrid warfare directed against Europe whose aim is to destabilize allied nations and “make sure we don’t support Ukraine.”

“The warfare that Russia is conducting in Ukraine is kinetic, traditional warfare. But what it is conducting in Europe is hybrid, and hybrid has many different elements. You have daily cyber attacks, you have sabotage attempts as we saw in Leipzig ,” Stubb said.

Meanwhile, on Oct. 1, two Finnish companies, satellite operator Iceye and telecoms equipment giant Nokia, unveiled their new partnership to develop sovereign satellite communications for governments and defense customers, offering broadband low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite communications systems. The first satellites are to be launched in 2028.

Iceye is already supplying radar-satellite systems to numerous European allies, including Finland, Greece, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal and Sweden, and Germany’s December 2025 order for a 40-satellite constellation marked the first-ever European move to create a large tactical system on the continent, according to its CEO Rafal Modrzewski.

Modrzewski and Nokia’s CEO Justin Hotard discussed their companies’ joint project during a panel discussion at the forum, saying it comes in response to nations’ drive for sovereignty in satellite communications across priority mission areas.

“Sovereignty doesn’t exist without competitiveness. Sovereignty without competitiveness is isolation … and the reality, as we see here in Finland and in Europe is that neither the U.S., nor Europe can win in a war of isolation,” Hotard said.

Also on Oct. 1, Finland formally presented the first two of the 64 F-35 fighter jets the nation has ordered from Lockheed Martin. At a Helsinki Security Forum panel, Elizabeth Parcella, the vice president for Strategy and Business Development for Aeronautics at Lockheed Martin, said that, while the move improves Finland’s defense posture, it also comes as the company is expanding its manufacturing collaboration with local industry partners.

“Patria is a key partner with us. They are starting to manufacture the forward fuselage of the aircraft. They are also partnered with our engine provider, Pratt & Whitney,” Parcella said. “And, together with other European manufacturers, about 25 percent of the value of every F-35 will be produced in Europe moving forward.”

In his remarks during a panel, Panu Routila, the CEO of Patria, referred to last week’s award of a contract to supply the first Trackx light armored personnel carriers to Finland and Sweden as an example of how European nations work together to fill their capability gaps.

One example “is Trackx, our tracked vehicle, which we started developing just three years ago, actually, because of the demand for Arctic mobility, mobility in very difficult conditions. And this is a vehicle that is now ready,” Routila said.

Deliveries of the vehicles are to commence in 2027, Patria said in a statement.

“Following delivery, both countries will conduct national field trials and evaluations to assess the vehicles’ suitability for operational use. In addition, part of the testing is expected to be conducted jointly between the nations,” the statement said.

Jaroslaw Adamowski is the Poland correspondent for Defense News.

波兰华沙——乌克兰无人机和导弹制造商火点公司首席执行官伊琳娜·捷列赫在今年的赫尔辛基安全论坛上表示，该公司正在研发一种远程战术弹道导弹，此前其FP-7武器于10月1日首次在实战中使用。

欧洲各国正严阵以待，应对俄罗斯日益加剧的混合攻击。国防公司正在推销产品以弥补不同的能力缺口，欧洲和美国的生产商正在合作，而不是各自为战。业内代表在周末的活动中表示。

Fire Point公司已研发出其旗舰导弹，该导弹赢得了弗拉基米尔·泽连斯基总统的赞扬，并将成为泛欧“弗雷娅”反弹道导弹防御计划的一部分，该系统的原型预计将于2027年上半年准备就绪。与此同时，该公司正在研发一种增程版本，该版本将于今年发布。Terekh在10月2日论坛首日的小组讨论中表示。

“昨天，我们首次将弹道导弹发射到俄罗斯境内。这是一枚射程最大为300公里的战术弹道导弹。我们正在研发射程更远的版本，也将在今年问世，”捷列赫说。“作为一家私营公司，我们仅用了两年时间就研制出了这枚导弹。”

Fire Point公司的一位高管表示，这项能力对乌克兰至关重要，因为该国正在加入“拥有自主研发且无自毁开关的弹道导弹的VIP行列。现在，我们无需征求任何人的意见即可进行自卫。”

她说，乌克兰当局之所以委托一家私营公司开发导弹防御计划的关键部件，是因为火点公司大幅削减了官僚机构，加快了导弹靶场的研发工作。

“此外，我们的价格比任何竞争对手都便宜好几倍，”特雷克说。

该论坛由芬兰总统亚历山大·斯图布和摩尔多瓦总统玛雅·桑杜正式揭幕。受俄罗斯全面入侵乌克兰的鼓舞，芬兰于2023年4月加入北约。在摩尔多瓦，日益加剧的俄罗斯混合威胁以及邻国乌克兰的战争促使该国政府寻求与北约更紧密的合作，同时坚持宪法规定的中立立场。

“今年，俄罗斯无人机已侵入我国领空超过45次，其中8次发生在过去一周。上个月，俄罗斯蓄意袭击了乌克兰与摩尔多瓦的边境口岸，造成两人死亡，”桑杜在10月2日与斯塔布举行的联合新闻发布会上表示。“我们的应对之策是增强自身实力。我们正在加大防空投入，推进军队现代化，并增加国防开支。”

在两国元首参与的小组讨论中，芬兰总统表示，俄罗斯已经发动了一场针对欧洲的混合战争，其目的是破坏盟国的稳定，“确保我们不会支持乌克兰”。

“俄罗斯在乌克兰进行的战争是传统的、以动能为主的战争。但它在欧洲进行的战争是混合战争，混合战争包含许多不同的要素。它每天都会发动网络攻击，还会像我们在莱比锡看到的那样，进行破坏活动，”斯塔布说。

与此同时，10月1日，芬兰卫星运营商Iceye和电信设备巨头诺基亚宣布建立新的合作伙伴关系，共同为各国政府和国防客户开发自主卫星通信系统，提供宽带低地球轨道（LEO）卫星通信系统。首批卫星计划于2028年发射。

据Iceye首席执行官拉法尔·莫德热夫斯基称，Iceye已经向包括芬兰、希腊、荷兰、波兰、葡萄牙和瑞典在内的众多欧洲盟友提供雷达卫星系统，而德国在2025年12月订购的40颗卫星星座标志着欧洲首次在欧洲大陆创建大型战术系统。

在论坛的小组讨论中，莫德热夫斯基和诺基亚首席执行官贾斯汀·霍塔德讨论了他们公司的联合项目，称该项目是为了响应各国在优先任务领域寻求卫星通信主权的诉求。

霍塔尔德说：“没有竞争力就没有主权。没有竞争力的主权就是孤立……正如我们在芬兰和欧洲所看到的，现实是，无论是美国还是欧洲，都无法在孤立主义的战争中获胜。”

10月1日，芬兰正式接收了该国向洛克希德·马丁公司订购的64架F-35战斗机中的首批两架。在赫尔辛基安全论坛的一个小组讨论会上，洛克希德·马丁公司航空战略与业务发展副总裁伊丽莎白·帕塞拉表示，此举不仅提升了芬兰的国防实力，也正值该公司扩大与当地工业伙伴的生产合作之际。

帕特里亚公司是我们的重要合作伙伴。他们已经开始生产飞机的前机身。他们也与我们的发动机供应商普惠公司有合作关系，”帕塞拉说。“而且，未来每架F-35战斗机价值的约25%将在欧洲生产，这其中也包括其他欧洲制造商。”

在一次小组讨论中，Patria 首席执行官 Panu Routila 提到，上周授予芬兰和瑞典首批 Trackx 轻型装甲运兵车的合同，就是一个欧洲国家如何携手弥补自身能力差距的例子。

“例如，我们的履带式车辆 Trackx，实际上我们三年前才开始研发，原因是市场对北极地区以及在极其恶劣条件下进行机动出行的需求。现在，这款车辆已经准备就绪，”鲁蒂拉说道。

Patria在一份声明中表示，车辆将于2027年开始交付。

声明称：“交付完成后，两国将开展各自国家的实地试验和评估，以检验车辆是否适合实际作战使用。此外，部分测试预计将由两国联合进行。”

Jaroslaw Adamowski 是《防务新闻》驻波兰记者。