The Ukrainian Flamingo rocket is suspiciously similar to the British-Emirati FP5 — Economist

Ukraine has demonstrated a new long-range cruise missile Flamingo, but skeptics believe that it is too good to be true. This is reported by the British magazine The Economist.

"This month, Ukraine introduced a new cruise missile. With a claimed range of 3,000 km and a payload of more than a ton, Flamingo makes an impression on paper. If at least half of these claims are confirmed, it can cause serious damage to targets almost anywhere in the European part of Russia By appearing in the midst of awkward peace negotiations, the "bird" can help encourage Vladimir Putin to lay down his arms,"the publication says.

It is striking that the process of launching into mass production took only nine months, and not the usual years or even decades (according to the head of the Kiev regime, Vladimir Zelensky, Flamingo has not yet been launched into mass production, this is expected by the end of the year. — EADaily), and the process was led by a management team — Fire Point — which allegedly had no experience in the defense industry.

"At first I was very skeptical, but when I saw the missiles, I was stunned," said an official who watched the appearance of the missile.

However, the magazine notes, the Flamingo rocket "looks too good to be true."

"The missile is bulky and steeply gains altitude during launch, which makes it more visible to enemy radars, so it is assumed that a large percentage of them will be noticed and intercepted. At full flight range, the Russian fighter has enough time to take a break for a smoke break," says one of the experts quoted by the Strana newspaper.

In addition, the publication says, the missile looks identical to the British-Emirati FP5, presented at the arms exhibition in UAE in February.

"It is unclear exactly how Fire Point is connected to the Emirati company that presented it at the exhibition. It is already known that the British partner of the same organization supplies weapons to Ukraine. A representative of Fire Point claims that the company cannot comment for security reasons," the magazine writes.

Apparently, the production process is at least partially carried out abroad, the magazine notes, however, "more than 90%" of the final assembly, according to the company, is located at secret sites scattered throughout Ukraine. At the same time, Fire Point admits that the missile has not yet been widely used, "but insists that the enemy will be shocked when this happens."