Click to see full-size image. (Fire Point\Telegram)
Chief designer of Ukraine’s Fire Point defense company said its FP-7 ballistic missile is currently too expensive to justify using against targets with a conventional high-explosive warhead.
Denys Shtilerman, Fire Point’s co-founder and chief designer, said in an interview broadcast on Ukrainian national television on October 31 that delivering a 200-kilogram payload over 300 kilometers with an FP-7 costs approximately $600,000, while the same task can be accomplished for around $50,000 using the company’s drones.
“There is no point in delivering 200 kilograms over 300 kilometers for $600,000,” Shtilerman said.
He argued that the missile’s structural requirements also make its conventional warhead less effective. Unlike a drone, a ballistic missile must withstand substantial aerodynamic and thermal stresses during flight, requiring a reinforced body that reduces the space available for explosive material.
A ballistic missile carries significantly less explosive material because it needs “a very strong body,” Shtilerman explained, adding that this limitation does not apply to the same extent when the weapon is equipped with a cluster warhead.
According to the designer, using 16 FP-2 one-way attack drones would be more economically advantageous than launching a single FP-7 with a conventional warhead.
He noted, however, that the ballistic missile would become economically worthwhile once its cluster-warhead variant enters service.
The FP-7 is a ground-launched, solid-fuel tactical ballistic missile developed by Fire Point for tactical strikes. The company has incorporated composite materials into its construction to reduce weight and has described its aerodynamic configuration and control principles as derived from the Soviet-era 48N6 interceptor used in Russia’s S-400 air defense system, while employing different guidance and flight-control hardware.
Fire Point’s currently published specifications list a maximum payload of 200 kilograms and a range of up to 250 kilometers. The missile can reach speeds of 1,500 meters per second, climb to an altitude of up to 60 kilometers and remain in flight for as long as 300 seconds. Its declared accuracy is 14 meters. Shtilerman’s cost comparison, however, was based on a 300-kilometer strike scenario.
The FP-2, meanwhile, is a fixed-wing one-way attack drone designed to engage both stationary and moving ground targets. Fire Point lists its maximum payload at 200 kilograms, a maximum operating range of 700 kilometers and an endurance of up to four hours.
Ukraine announced the FP-7’s first combat use on October 1, when President Volodymyr Zelenskyy published footage of a missile launch and described it as the first operational employment of the domestically developed ballistic weapon. No interceptions or impacts were reported in Russia, raising questions about the alleged combat test.
Shtilerman’s remarks suggest that Fire Point is facing serious issues with the missile’s development and may be attempting to justify delays in the project. While the economic comparison he presented is sound, ballistic missiles have an advantage over drones in that they are much harder to detect and intercept.
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distruggete fire point.
“demilitarization”
i wonder how many golden toilets this boondoggle has funded?