The Ukrainian company Fire Point has signed agreements with over 13 European defense firms to develop a new missile defense system called Freyja. The partners will provide radars, guidance systems, and other components, according to the company’s CEO.
Ukraine has urgently sought partners to create weapons capable of intercepting Russian ballistic missiles. The pan-European project was officially launched last month in Paris, involving 10 governments and 12 defense companies, including Eurosam, Leonardo, Thales, and SAAB. Currently, Ukraine relies on the American Patriot system for ballistic missile interception, but the global shortage of interceptor missiles, worsened by the war in Iran, has limited supply.
“Almost everything is agreed,” CEO Iryna Terekh told Reuters, noting that 13 industrial partners have already joined the project. She added that Fire Point aims to achieve its first successful interception by mid-2027.
Development and Integration of Freyja
The Ukrainian company is providing FP7.X, a faster version of its ballistic missile FP7, as an interceptor and is currently integrating it with a seeker. Terekh remarked: “We are now at the most intense and at the same time the most difficult stage of final assembly, integrating everything with surveillance radars, tracking radars, and seekers.” Norwegian Kongsberg is developing a command center that will integrate various systems. The company did not respond to a request for comment.
Industry publications have reported that German Diehl Defence, which manufactures the seeker for its own air defense system IRIS-T, will provide the guidance system. A Diehl representative confirmed that the company is in negotiations with Fire Point but declined to discuss details. Terekh also did not comment on these negotiations. Fire Point plans to produce a ballistic interceptor costing less than 1 million euros ($1.2 million) per missile, which is a quarter to a sixth of the cost of the Patriot. “We are trying to fit a program that usually takes 20 or 30 years into a few years,” said Terekh, adding that at least five tests of the interceptor missile have already been conducted.
According to Ukrainian officials, the project will utilize an open architecture that allows for the replacement of individual components, such as swapping a Weibel radar for one made by Saab. The number of industrial partners may increase to around 20, which would enhance production capacity, Terekh noted. She also mentioned that Fire Point is in talks with Ukrainian state missile manufacturers but declined to name them. According to her, the participating companies will finance research and development until a minimum viable product (MVP) is achieved, meaning a successful interception of a ballistic missile.
Offensive Missiles and Own Engines
“We expect the launcher to have four to six missiles. So, if a ballistic missile is intercepted from one batch for the MVP, it will be a great result,” said Terekh. The missile will only succeed in flying through if all interceptors in the launcher miss. To keep the probability of six consecutive misses below 5% — the industry standard — each interceptor must hit approximately 40% of the time, explained Fabian Hoffmann, a missile expert at the Norwegian Defense Research Institute. He noted that if this can indeed be achieved for less than 1 million euros, it would be “quite impressive” and “extremely cheap.”
Based on the FP7, a strike modification of the missile for ground targets has also been developed. It has undergone about 15 test launches and is currently undergoing certification by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, which Terekh expects will take another two to four weeks. Fire Point plans the first combat use of this version in early autumn, and by the end of autumn, a significantly larger ballistic missile FP9, which the company claims will be capable of reaching Moscow. Terekh stated that the architecture of the FP7 was based on Soviet developments of the S-300 and S-400 interceptors, but the current Fire Point missile has only 20% similarity to them. In a recent interview, Fire Point co-founder Denys Shtilerman revealed that Soviet designs were obtained as a service from Timur Mindich, a former business partner of President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is facing corruption allegations and is currently in Israel.
Fire Point stated that it rejected Mindich‘s offer to buy a stake in the company.
Fire Point is also continuing the development of its own engine for the FP5 cruise missile, known as Flamingo, which this year successfully struck several key military targets in Russia. Previously, the company relied on second-hand jet engines — “digging in the engine graveyard… like in a thrift store,” said Terekh.
