Ukraine’s Patriot alternative could enter mass production in August, Fire Point says

The FP-7.X surface-to-air missile, whose test flight Fire Point showed in early June, is expected to form the basis of the future Freya ballistic missile defense system.

“Fire Point says the FP-7.X is designed to counter Russian ballistic missiles and drones at a fraction of the cost of existing Western systems such as Lockheed Martin’s Patriot and the Franco-Italian SAMP/T,” the FT reported.

Shtilerman told the outlet that mass production of the missiles could begin as early as August if Fire Point receives the infrared seeker it hopes to obtain from Germany’s Diehl Defence. The Fire Point co-founder expects the missiles to be ready by 2027, the FT wrote. He said that starting around August, Fire Point would be able to produce about three FP-7.X missiles a day and store them until the seekers are attached.

“Finalizing this depends on the speed of our Western partners and when they start moving,” Shtilerman said.

European partners are expected to provide other components for the Freya air defense system, including radars used to detect and engage airborne targets, as well as a command-and-control system, the report said.

Fire Point declined to confirm or deny which companies it is working with on the project, the FT added. However, European and Ukrainian officials said Fire Point had held talks with Germany’s Hensoldt and Thales on radars, Italy’s Leonardo on target-tracking and detection radars, and Norway’s Kongsberg on command-and-control technology, according to the article.

Shtilerman said his company’s FP-7.X interceptor costs about $700,000, compared with about $3.8 million for a PAC-3 interceptor used by the Patriot air defense system.

Fire Point’s lead developer also said Ukraine’s production pace is now much faster than in Western countries, largely because of the wartime economy.

“Today, we probably have the least bureaucratic approach to producing anything in the aerospace industry,” Shtilerman said.

He said the FP-7.X missile can reach an altitude of 25 kilometers and, like Patriot interceptors, is designed to reach enough speed to intercept ballistic missiles.

Unlike Patriot missiles, which are guided by advanced ground-based radar, FP-7.X missiles are also expected to use radar guidance but switch to an infrared seeker in the final phase of flight, Shtilerman said. The FT added, however, that infrared guidance is generally considered less effective than radar guidance, including because spoofing and other countermeasures could mislead the missile.

Tom Karako, a missile defense expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said FP-7.X missiles could complement Ukraine’s air defense arsenal, which also includes older Soviet systems, U.S. Hawk missiles and modern German IRIS-T interceptors. But Karako said Freya is unlikely to fully replace more advanced systems such as Patriot.

“When you have a full spectrum of threats, you need lots of different tools,” Karako said. “Patriot is a very exquisite capability, so perhaps ‘complementing’ is a better term than ‘substitute.’”

Freya system and FP-7.X missiles

In April 2026, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine was considering creating a ballistic missile defense system in cooperation with European countries over the next year.

On May 14, Fire Point co-owner and chief designer Denys Shtilerman said the company was joining the anti-ballistic coalition and published a presentation on the pan-European Freya missile defense project. The project aims to create an integrated air and missile defense system focused on intercepting ballistic missiles. One proposed element is the FP-7.X interceptor against ballistic threats, whose tests Fire Point demonstrated in February.

The system is expected to integrate with other air defense elements using NATO’s Link 16 standard.

On May 25, Shtilerman said that if development succeeds, Ukraine’s cheaper alternative to the Patriot air defense system could be used to intercept Russian ballistic missiles by the end of the year.

“If everyone moves very quickly, then by the end of the year we will be able to carry out the first interception. But this has to be done very quickly — by everyone,” he said.