Germany's missile maker Diehl Defence is negotiating to manufacture Ukraine's Flamingo cruise missile in Germany, the Financial Times reported. Talks with the Ukrainian developer Fire Point are planned for the coming weeks, as European states hunt for weapons able to reach deep into Russia.

"This could really happen"

Diehl chief executive Helmut Rauch briefed journalists during the ILA Berlin Air Show.

"We are in discussions about how we could work together," he said. "I think this could really happen. In the next few weeks, we have several meetings regarding this and then we will see." 

For a new product, he added, it "makes a lot of sense to have it also in Germany or other countries," and Diehl is "optimistic and positive" about cooperation. The Ukrainian outlet Militarnyi noted that joint output of the FP-5 Flamingo in Europe could become the largest example of NATO countries adopting Ukrainian defense know-how.

Explore further

Germany delivers IRIS-T to Ukraine — high-tech system that engages cruise missiles, as Russia continues to strike residential buildings

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, visiting Kyiv last month, said the "technological leaps here in Ukraine are remarkable." Joint ventures are being explored for long-range drones, air defenses, and electronic warfare, he said.

Diehl builds the Iris-T air-defense system, a mainstay of Ukraine's protection against Russian missile attacks. The firm inked a technology deal with Fire Point in April without disclosing details.

Explore further

German company that already supplies Ukraine with drones has unveiled Shahed-hunter aircraft with four weapons categories on single airframe

Twice the Tomahawk's range, 200 missiles a month

The ground-launched Flamingo claims over 3,000 km of reach — roughly double the Tomahawk's. The missile has so far played a limited part in Ukraine's long-range campaign, and some reports have questioned its effectiveness. At least two Flamingos, though, struck a military plant in the Russian city of Cheboksary on 10 June, about 900 km from the Ukrainian border — the longest successful known Flamingo strike so far.

Fire Point co-founder and chief designer Denys Shtilierman told the Financial Times in May that the company turns out about 200 Flamingos a month with capacity to spare. 

"We just need orders and money," he said, admitting an engine bottleneck he expected to resolve soon.

On 10 June, Ukrainian FP-5 "Flamingo" missiles struck the VNIIR "Progress" plant in Cheboksary, Russia. The factory produces satellite navigation antennas essential for Russian Shahed drones, KABs (precision-glide bombs), jet drones, Iskanders, and Orlans, advisor to the Defense Minister Serhii "Flash" Beskrestnov says.

Without these antennas, Russian precision weapons lose substantial accuracy against Ukrainian targets.

Cheboksary is over 1,400 km from the Ukrainian border. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed the strike. Social media photos suggest one of the factory buildings was practically completely destroyed, per ArmyInform. 

"Production for murder and terror" 

Progress manufactures satellite navigation systems without which Shaheds don't fly accurately, KABs and jet drones don't hit their targets, Iskanders can lose precision, and Orlans navigate poorly, Beskrestnov explains.

"Probably many are familiar with the CRPA antenna 'Kometa', which this plant produces. The enterprise does not produce military products for the defense segment. It produces products for murders and terror," Beskrestnov said. 

What CRPA antennas do, and why they matter

Controlled reception pattern antenna (CRPA) systems are anti-jamming receivers. They allow precision-guided weapons to maintain satellite navigation lock in electronic-warfare environments. Komea CRPA performs this function by filtering out interference and false GPS/GLONASS signals generated by Ukrainian electronic warfare systems, per United24 Media.

Kometa-M antennas with up to 16 elements have been found in Iskander-K cruise missiles, Shahed-type drones, and other Russian long-range weapons, per Defense Express.

Ukraine has developed its own electronic warfare systems to counter these Russian CRPAs, including the Lima-Quant system, which can suppress Russian Kometa CRPAs at distances of up to 50 km, Ukraine Today reports.

The Kometa antenna is part of a continuing EW-counter-EW arms race, and striking the manufacturer of these antennas degrades the precision capability across the entire Russian strike-weapons portfolio.

FP-5 Flamingo and 1,400 km strike envelope

The FP-5 "Flamingo" is a Ukrainian-made cruise missile that has become a primary weapon in Ukraine's expanding deep-strike envelope. The strike on the Progress plant in Cheboksary, approximately 1,400 km from the Ukrainian border, represents one of the deepest successful Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory.

This demonstrates that the Russian rear-area defense industry is no longer geographically insulated from Ukrainian operations. It was the second strike on the Progress plant in under a week, marking a deliberate Ukrainian sustained operation against this specific supply node.