Click to see full-size image. (Fire Point\Telegram)
Ukrainian’s Fire Point has conducted test launches of its new FP-7 ballistic missile, according to the defense company co-founder Denys Shtilerman, who released footage of the launches on February 27.
The company first unveiled the FP-7, along with a much larger ballistic missile codenamed the FP-9, in September of last year.
According to materials released by the company at the time, the FP-7 is designed for “medium-range” strikes, with a range of 200 kilometers , a top speed of 1,500 meters per second, and a warhead weighing 150 kg. The missile can fly for up to 250 seconds and is launched from ground-based platforms.
The test video shows the missile being launched from a static ground-based platform. Only the launch was included in the footage.
The larger FP-9 is supposed to be more capable, with a range of 855 kilometers, a speed of 2,200 meters per second, and a warhead weighing up to 800 kg. The missile can reach an altitude of 70 kilometers and has an accuracy of 20 meters, according to Fire Point.
The high-altitude and arched flight path of ballistic missiles make them hard to intercept. In addition, they can strike targets with little warning, often within minutes.
Based on the latest test footage and official illustrations released by Fire Point last September, the general design of the FP-7 appears to be very similar to that of the early versions of 5V55 anti-aircraft missile which make up the main armament of Soviet-made S-300 long-range air defense systems. These missiles are known for their longer range and higher supersonic speed.
Ukraine inherited a large number of S-300 systems from the Soviet Union, and with them a large stockpile of 5V55 missiles.
The design of the FP-9, seen so far only in official illustrations, is very much the same as the FP-7, but generally much larger in size.
With most of the Ukrainian S-300 systems already destroyed by the Russian military or out of service for lack of spare parts and other issues, Fire Point may be now planning to convert what is left of the 5v55 stockpile into ballistic missiles or use the experience gained from maintaining the missile to produce a ballistic missile version.
Fire Point is known for producing the FP-1, a fixed-wing, long-range suicide drone that is widely used by Kiev forces in so-called “deep strikes” against Russia. The drone, which is guided via GPS-aided inertial navigation system, has a range of up to 1,600 kilometers and carries a warhead weighing around 120 kilograms.
The company unveiled last year a land-attack cruise missile dubbed the FP-5 “Flamingo” which it claimed has a range of 3,000 kilometers and carries a warhead weighing 1,150 kilograms.
The Flamingo, which appears to be an exact copy of a cruise missile design called the FP-5 previously exhibited by the United Arab Emirates-based Milanion, performed poorly, and its specifications were questioned by many experts.
Fire Point was investigated by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine over allegations including misleading the government on pricing and delivery schedules as well as possible links between the company and Tymur Mindich, co-owner of the Kvartal 95 studio founded by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Interestingly, the FP-7 test footage was released just days after the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) warned that the United Kingdom and France are actively working to provide Kiev with nuclear weapons, specifically the TN-75 150kt thermonuclear warhead built for the M51.1 submarine-launched ballistic missile fielded by the French Navy.
The FP-7 is almost certainly too small to be used as a delivery vehicle for such a warhead, but the FP-9 may be powerful enough for this.
With or without nuclear warheads, Russia will likely deal with Fire Point’s ballistic missile program as a credible threat to its territories.
Last year, the Russian military and intelligence succeeded in stalling a Ukrainian project to mass produce the Sapsan, a tactical ballistic missile with a range of 700 kilometers and a warhead weighing 480 kg.
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soldier of ucraine!
soldier of slavs!
don’t fight in a brother war!!!!!!!!!!!!!
don’t fight your russian blood brother!!!!!!!!
turn your weapon to your commanders!
turn your weapon your foreign, globalist vampires!!
nothing special as ukraine produced years ago the grom balistic missile with a range of 300km, almost all them were easily shot down by russian air defense.