The Economist: Ukraine has begun striking Russia with new Flamingo cruise missiles

Ukraine has begun using FP-5 Flamingo cruise missiles, which can fly 50 meters above the ground, have a range of over 3,000 km and a huge striking power thanks to a 1,150 kg warhead. About writes The Economist.

The journalists note that if the FP-5 proves capable of penetrating Russian air defense, it will bring the Ukrainian DeepStrike campaign to a new level of destructiveness. Its range allows it to deceive air defense by constantly changing flight vectors to the target.

The Economist also notes that the FP-5 uses recycled Soviet-era turbofan engines, and the production of the carbon fiber fuselage takes only six hours.

Fire Point is currently producing two to three FP-5s a day, but that number is expected to rise to seven later this month. Each cruise missile costs about $500,000, journalists say.

The publication notes that, for comparison, the US Tomahawk missile costs four times more, has a shorter range and carries a much smaller payload. Although it is probably more accurate and harder to shoot down, The Economist emphasizes.

LIGA.net has asked for a comment to confirm the information. The news will be updated as soon as a response is received.

• on August 21, Zelenskyy said that in late 2025 and early 2026, Ukraine would launch mass production of the Flamingo missile. According to the head of state, this missile is "the most successful we have."
• On the same day, it became known that ukrainian company Fire Point produces at least one Flamingo cruise missile per day.
• on September 18, Iryna Terekh, the company's CTO, said in an interview LIGA.netthat Fire Point produces 50 missiles per month and plans to reach a daily production of seven missiles by the end of the year.