Ukrainian Manufacturer to Buy European Tech for Missile Defense Project

A member of Ukraine’s 72nd Brigade anti-air unit points in the direction of a Russian Zala reconnaissance drone sighted overhead as they prepare to fire a Strela-10 anti-air missile system near Marinka, Ukraine, on Feb. 23, 2024. Chris McGrath/Getty ImagesUkrainian arms manufacturer Fire Point has said it has secured agreements with more than a dozen European defense companies for the components and technology it needs for the country’s anti-ballistic missile system.Fire Point has been producing the FP7.X interceptor for a Ukrainian project, codenamed Project Freyja, but needed the rest of the air defense system, including the command and control system and radar for detection and targeting.Iryna Terekh, Fire Point’s CEO, told Reuters in an interview published on Aug. 4 that her company had secured agreements for the radar, guidance, and other systems and is starting to integrate the technologies.“Right now we are in ⁠the most intense and also in the most complicated stage of finally assembling everything together with surveillance radars, with tracking radars, with the seekers,” she said.Terekh said that 13 international partners had joined the project, and that that number could rise to around 20, which would increase production capacity.The Anti-Ballistic Missile Coalition was officially launched in Paris in July by Ukraine and nine other European countries. Defense firms that had joined the coalition early on included Italy’s Leonardo, France’s Thales, Sweden’s Saab, and the French-Italian Eurosam.A spokesperson from Germany’s Diehl Defense—which produces a seeker for its own IRIS-T air defense system—confirmed that it was in talks with Fire Point, but did not disclose further details.Terekh said that Fire Point aims to produce ballistic missile interceptors for less than $1.2 million each—around one-quarter to one-sixth the cost of one interceptor for the U.S.-made Patriot system, which the country is currently dependent on to shoot down Russian missiles.First Interception by Mid-2027She said her company will be able to conduct its first successful interception with the system by mid-2027.“We’re trying to squeeze a program that usually takes 20 or 30 years into a matter of a couple of years,” Terekh said, adding that Fire Point had conducted at least five tests ​of the interceptor.The target of the middle of next year was previously stated by Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council Deputy Secretary Davyd Aloian, and more recently by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.Speaking to the heads of Ukraine’s foreign diplomatic missions on Aug. 3, Zelenskyy said that this project was one of the most ambitious projects that Kyiv is seeking to accomplish—one which he foresees could become Europe’s common integrated defense system.Ukraine’s ability to develop its own anti-ballistic missile systems is critical, with the war with Russia now into its fifth year.Kyiv is currently reliant on the Patriot system, which is designed to shoot down tactical ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and aircraft. But Kyiv has been struggling in recent times to secure enough interceptors, which are in short supply globally, amid the ongoing conflict between the United States and Iran.Moscow has also stepped up its ballistic strikes against Ukraine in recent months.Last week, Ukraine’s then-ambassador to the United States, Olha Stefanishyna, said that Russia had been “scaling up massively” its production of missiles, and that Ukraine needs to establish a steady line of supply of Patriot interceptors by winter in order to withstand ongoing attacks.Reuters contributed to this report.