What is known about Fire Point – the manufacturer of long-range FP-1 drones and FP-5 “Flamingo” cruise missiles

On 20 August, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed that the Ukrainian cruise missile “Flamingo” had successfully passed tests. According to him, mass production of these missiles will begin by the end of 2025. And on 21 August, the Associated Press published a report from the workshops of Fire Point, the company that produces “Flamingo” missiles and long-range FP-1 drones. Defender Media highlights the key points.

Fire Point was founded in 2022. A group of close friends — specialists from different fields — decided to mass-produce relatively inexpensive long-range drones that would become Ukraine’s answer to Russian-Iranian “Shaheds.” This is how the FP-1 “deep strike” drone was born, capable of covering distances of up to 1,600 km.

By combining expertise in construction, game design and architecture, people with no previous defence industry experience created new drone designs that flew farther and struck more accurately than most equivalents on the market. Their long-range drones had another advantage: they did not require airfields for launch.

In 2023, Fire Point was headed by trained architect Iryna Terekh. She told AP journalists that when she was hired, she was tasked with producing 30 drones a month. Today, the company manufactures around 100 units a day, each costing about $55,000.

The FP-1 has proven to be an extremely effective weapon. According to Terekh, the Fire Point drone with a 60 kg explosive warhead is responsible for about 60% of strikes against targets deep inside Russian territory — including oil refineries and ammunition depots.

Fire Point has also developed its own software that enables effective targeting even under heavy enemy electronic warfare interference.

This year, Fire Point completed testing of its first cruise missile — the FP-5. It can travel 3,000 kilometres and hit targets with an accuracy of up to 14 metres, the company says. With a 1,150 kg warhead, the FP-5 is among the most powerful cruise missiles in the world, independent experts confirmed to AP journalists. Due to a manufacturing defect, the first missiles came out pink, so they were nicknamed “Flamingo” — and the name stuck.

Today, Fire Point produces about one “Flamingo” a day, and plans to ramp up production to seven missiles per day by October, Terekh said.