KYIV, June 3 - Fire Point, which has emerged as Ukraine’s largest maker of missiles and drones since the start of the war, on Wednesday said it had conducted a flight test of the FP-7.X missile that the company intends to develop into an anti-ballistic interceptor.
Company CEO Iryna Terekh posted on X: "Recently, we conducted an extremely important test: a fully controlled manoeuvring flight of the FP-7.X missile, which will form the basis of the future Freyja anti-ballistic interceptor," confirming the trial and the missile’s intended role.
The FP-7.X is described by Fire Point as the interceptor variant of its FP7 ballistic missile, a platform still under development. The company says the FP7 family will also have the capability to strike ground targets.
Fire Point co-owner Denys Shtilierman told Reuters in April that the company was in discussions with unnamed European firms to create a new air defence system aimed at intercepting supersonic ballistic missiles, with an ambition to field a system by the end of next year. Shtilierman presented this as a lower-cost alternative to the U.S.-made Patriot.
Analysts note that a missile is only one element of an integrated air defence solution. The most technically demanding pieces, they say, are the ground radar network and the missile’s targeting systems, components that must work together for an effective counter-ballistic capability.
The test and related development plans arrive against a backdrop of frequent Russian ballistic missile attacks since Moscow’s 2022 invasion. On Wednesday, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy publicly called for Europe to accelerate its counter-ballistic missile efforts.
Kyiv has repeatedly voiced concerns about a critical shortfall of interceptor missiles for the Patriot system, which it views as the only consistently reliable defence against ballistic threats.
Terekh shared a video of the test showing a pink missile launching from a rail-style launcher in a field; the background of the clip was pixelated. Founded after the conflict began in 2022, Fire Point reports production of thousands of long-range drones each month and is also the manufacturer of the Flamingo cruise missile, which Ukraine has used against multiple Russian military-industrial targets.
Context and next steps
Fire Point’s announcement clarifies the company’s stated technical direction for the FP7 family and the FP-7.X interceptor specifically, but the path to an operational anti-ballistic system will require integration of radar and targeting networks and continued cooperation with external partners.