In July, across Ukraine, 437 civilians were killed, and the figures for August are expected to be just as bad. KYIV HAS been under Russian bombardment for years, but in late August its resolve was tested as never before. Over the five days to September 1st the city was hit almost hourly by waves of jet-powered drones, followed by ballistic missiles. The Russians use the drones to overwhelm Ukrainian radar networks before launching the rockets. The attacks continued almost as intensely until September 6th, when they stopped briefly to allow Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, two American envoys, to shuttle safely from Moscow to Kyiv. As soon as they departed the strikes resumed; on September 7th three civilians were killed.
Fire Point, a Ukrainian company with particularly close links to government that makes attack drones and the long-range Flamingo cruise missile, is the lead developer. Mr Hoffman is sceptical. Ukraine is hoping to add several new ballistic missiles of its own within the coming months. That, however, is a tall order: even America, with its complete air supremacy over Iran, has struggled to eradicate the country’s mobile launchers.
It aims to give Ukraine and its European allies a much lower-cost, higher-volume alternative to the PAC-3 that will work with NATO-standard radars and data links. The planned interceptor is based on its short-range FP-7 ballistic missile. The sensors, guidance and command systems will come from 12 European defence firms, including France’s Thales, Italy’s Leonardo, Germany’s Diehl and Sweden’s Saab. Fire Point is under pressure to show quick results, and claims it could have a successful ballistic missile interception by mid-2027. But if the price is anywhere near as low as the planned $700,000, it does not have to match the performance of PAC-3 or Aster, since it can be used in greater numbers. Matthew Bint of the International Institute for Strategic Studies thinks that at best Freyja may have some operational capability by 2028. These include the promising Sapsan, built by Pivdenmash, a state-owned company descended from Soviet-era rocket builders, and two models from Fire Point: the FP-7 and the bigger, longer-range FP-9.
What might make a difference would be a project described as a “moonshot”: the Ukrainian-led, pan-European Freyja project. The hope is that their high speed will make them better than drones at hitting mobile missile-launchers before they can “shoot and scoot”.
