From Drones to Missiles: Ukraine Plans Next Big Leap in Defense Production

Ukraine is investing heavily in creating its own long-range missile market, seeking to replicate the success of the drone industry, which has become one of its key advantages on the battlefield.

The Gaze reports on it, referring to Business Insider.

According to First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov, the state is directing hundreds of millions of Ukrainian hryvnia into the development of missile technologies through the Brave1 defense accelerator. 

Kyiv is acting as a venture investor, supporting various startups and companies working on new missile systems at different stages of development, from proof of concept to practical testing.

"We hope that, ultimately, what happened to drones is going to happen to missiles, which is we're going to create a market, we're going to create diversity, which is going to translate into tangible capacity on the battlefield," noted Fedorov.

At the same time, Ukraine continues to expand its drone production that just in two years has turned into a highly mobile industry worth millions. Brave1 Market, an online procurement platform, allows the military to purchase drones directly from manufacturers — similar to Amazon. The government hopes that a similar approach can be applied to missiles.

Ukraine is actively developing its own missile arsenal to strengthen its long-range strike capabilities without relying on Western weapons. The most famous Ukrainian missile is the R-360 Neptune cruise missile. This type of missile has already been used against targets on Russian territory.

In addition to modernizing existing systems, Ukraine presented a new FP-5 Flamingo cruise missile from Fire Point. According to the developers, its range can reach about 1,800 miles, which significantly exceeds the capabilities of any Western long-range weaponry transferred to Kyiv. 

According to The Independent, this missile even outperforms the American Tomahawk: the Flamingo has twice the range, carries twice as much explosives, and costs about the same. As The Gaze previously informed, the rocket costs about €1 million per unit — relatively cheap on a global scale, but quite expensive for Ukraine, which needs mass production. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also announced the mass production of Ukrainian Flamingo missiles.

“We will have more of them by December. And by the end of December or in January-February, there should be mass production,” he said.

Ukraine is also working on ballistic missiles and hybrid “drone-missile” platforms. According to President Zelenskyy, mass production of several types of such systems is planned to begin in the near future.

As The Gaze reported earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed the successful use of new Ukrainian missile systems Neptune and Flamingo in operations against the enemy. 

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