Ukraine has unveiled its new Flamingo cruise missile capable of striking targets as far as 3,000 kilometers. Ukrainian President Volodymyr announced on Thursday that the cruise missile has been test launched and its mass production will begin in February. “By December, we will have more of them. And by the end of December or in January-February, mass production should begin,” Zelenskiy said, while describing “Flaming” as Ukraine’s “most successful missile”.
Developed by Kyiv-based defence firm Fire Point, the missile carries a 1,150-kilogram warhead and is hardened against Russian electronic warfare systems, Fire Point’s CEO Iryna Terekh told Politico on August 21. Terekh said the company plans to boost Flaming’s production to around 200 units per month by October. “We came up with the idea fairly quickly. It took less than nine months to go from concept to the first successful battlefield trials. I won’t tell you the exact speed, but I can say it’s faster than any other missile we currently have,” Terekh said. She revealed that the company changed the original pink color of the missile for the color of military camouflage.
The unveiling of Flamingo cruise missile comes amid failing of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine and follows Russia’s large missile and drone attack of the past weeks. Ukraine announced production of its first 100 missiles last November.
