Ukraine wants homegrown missiles capable of striking deep inside Russia, including Moscow, but its existing ‘Flamingos’ show how hard mass production can be

Fire Point, Ukraine's main long-range weapons maker, says it is ready to supply the FP-7 short-range ballistic missile and is testing a medium-range FP-9 it claims could reach three-a-day production 'with adequate funding.' The company's existing FP-5 Flamingo cruise missile, in use since August 2025, was meant to be produced at a rate of hundreds per year with strikes deep into Russia.

Instead, Ukraine has launched salvos of only three to six Flamingos every three to eight weeks, with about ten strikes documented since last August and only a handful causing serious confirmed damage, including hits on plants in Belgorod, Votkinsk, Cheboksary and Volgograd. A September 11 strike on a Volgograd rocket-fuel plant saw one missile land in an empty lot and a second cause only partial damage, well short of the missile's stated warhead capability.

The pattern suggests strikes on closer targets fare better, possibly because more warhead weight survives the shorter flight or because nearer targets are easier to evade air defenses toward. Suspected corruption and difficulty securing engines have compounded the production shortfall, leaving Ukraine's ambitions for deep strikes into Russia still largely aspirational.

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