Kiev's new "wonder weapon" has what it takes to change the war

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• On the one hand, the USA wants to sell Ukraine 3350 missiles, but on the other hand, every deployment of US long-range weapons currently has to be approved by Washington.
• A Ukrainian company is now presenting the new FP-5 Flamingo cruise missile, which can carry 1.1 tons of explosives more than 3,000 kilometers, in an unusually open manner.
• Because it can be used to attack many targets in the Russian hinterland, the new weapon could change the war, analyzes a military expert: "Your new weapon can force Russia to give up the war."
• Currently, one Flamingo is being built per day, but by October this figure is set to rise to 200 per month.

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The news hit like a bombshell: according to the Wall Street Journal, Donald Trump has approved the sale of 3,350 RIM-174 Standard ERAM missiles to Ukraine. The cost of around 850 million dollars is to be borne by the Europeans.

The catch is that Washington must approve the targets before Kiev deploys the missile, which is to have a range of up to 450 kilometers, writes the US newspaper. Pentagon man Elbridge Colby has developed his own mechanism for this.

This limits the use of US long-range weapons in general: according to the Wall Street Journal, the Ukrainian armed forces have been prohibited from attacking Russian territory with ATACMS ammunition at least once. No such attacks with US weapons have been authorized since the spring.

Trump wants control

Even the launch of the British Storm Shadow and its French counterpart Scalp would require US authorization because they rely on targeting technology from the USA. The White House allegedly wanted to use its review mechanism to influence the Kremlin in order to persuade Vladimir Putin to make any concessions.

Volodymyr Zelensky is asked about the report on Ukraine's Independence Day when he gives a press conference on August 24 during a visit by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. "Recently, we have not been talking about such things with the United States. That used to be the case," explains the 47-year-old.

Is the Ukrainian President openly contradicting Donald Trump here? Not at all: Times have simply changed, he says. "People remember various signals regarding our retaliatory strikes after they [the Russians] attacked our energy system. That was a long time ago. Today we don't even mention that anymore."

"We use our [own] long-range weapons"

Kiev simply no longer needs the Pentagon to hit distant targets: "We use our domestically produced long-range weapons," says Selenskyj. Until now, however, the armed forces only had the R-360 Neptune in their arsenal: the anti-ship missile with a range of up to 1000 kilometers has been converted to also hit land targets.

The shortcoming: apparently only a few of these domestic missiles are being built. The last report of a Ukrainian attack in which the Neptune was allegedly used was in January. At the time, a warehouse in the Rostov region was hit after drones overwhelmed Russian air defenses.

The Neptune is produced by the Luch design bureau, which belongs to the state-owned defense company Ukroboronprom. It also manufactures rocket launchers as well as surface-to-air and anti-tank missiles.

"Potential to significantly change the war"

Volodymyr Zelenskyi has another ace up his sleeve: "Ukraine has the potential to change the war significantly," says military expert and YouTuber Torsten Heinrich. "Their new weapon can force Russia to give up the war."

The German is talking about the FP-5 Flamingo cruise missile, which Ukraine unveiled to the world on August 18 and is remotely reminiscent of the Nazi Fieseler Fi 103, aka V1. Heinrich calls the Flamingo a "real game changer".

A German V1 weapon in a photo from August 1944.

KEYSTONE

The reason: the strategic initiative in ground combat lay with the Russians, Heinrich explains. Kiev must therefore make the war more expensive for the Kremlin. The government in Moscow would have to come to the conclusion: "We may still be able to advance, but it will cost us too much". And in addition, a lot of damage would have to be done in the Russian hinterland.

"This is a completely new dimension"

Drones are one means of doing this, but they carry little explosive material, which is a shortcoming, especially in the case of massive Soviet-era factories. The Flamingo is able to change that: The new missile can carry 1.1 tons of explosives at up to 950 km/h for more than 3000 kilometers, according to the manufacturer Fire Point.

"This is a completely new dimension," says Heinrich. The manufacturer specifies a maximum accuracy deviation of 14 meters. A video shows how the weapon works: it is launched from a ramp and lifted into the air with a rocket stage, which is jettisoned after use. The engine then takes over.

This is the Ivchenko AI-25 from Ivchenko Progress, which is based in Zaporizhia. It is also used in the Czech training jet Aero L-39 Albatros or the Turkish Bayraktar drone Kızılelma, which is currently under development.

87 percent of refinery capacity within reach

According to the manufacturer, it takes 20 to 40 minutes to set up the ramp. This makes the Flamingo vulnerable to attack when enemy drones are nearby. However, thanks to its long range, the weapon can also be placed far inland. Not only St. Petersburg and Moscow could be attacked - even Kazan, Yekaterinburg and Omsk are vulnerable.

The Flamingo could even reach Omsk in Russia - even if it is positioned west of the Dnipro.

Google Earth

This increases the number of military targets exorbitantly. Whether the Bolshoye Savino airport in the Perm region, the headquarters of the 25th Army and the 67th Mechanized Division in Yekaterinburg or the naval port of Murmansk: Moscow will struggle to protect all facilities in the vastness of the country.

Military facilities within range of the Flamingo - click here for the map.

Stiftung Rondeli

Heinrich knows that 87 percent of Russia's refinery capacity is also within range. Behind the warhead of the Flamingo, experts suspect the FAB-1000, a Soviet-produced bomb of which Kiev still has thousands in stock. Overall, the missile measures 12 to 14 meters in length with a wingspan of six meters. It is said to weigh a total of six tons.

Russians mock the "wonder weapon"

"We invented it pretty quickly," Fire Point CEO Iryna Terech tells Politico about the development. "It took us less than nine months to develop it from an idea to its first successful tests on the battlefield. It is a completely Ukrainian development."

The Russian state news agency "Tass" is less than impressed by the "wonder weapon". It is in fact a product of the Milanion Group, which belongs to owners from Great Britain and the United Arab Emirates. Their IDEX-2025 missile is similar to the Flamingo, but can do more than the Ukrainian product.

Terech does not dispute this: "We observed the reaction of the Russians to our first missions and I can tell you: the more successful the mission was, the more the Russians tried to stifle any public relations work on it."

Unusual openness

Series production of the Flamingo has already started. Currently, one rocket a day is being produced, but by October there should be seven a day. Manufacturer Fire Point, which has only been in business since 2022, may be considering exporting the new weapon.

This is supported by the unusual openness with which the military product is being discussed: Not only "Politico" reports on the innovation - journalists from the AP news agency were also allowed to take a closer look at the production process.

800 soldiers encircled

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"If the Ukrainians manage to produce these cruise missiles in the quantities mentioned in a timely manner, then this could really be the game changer," Heinrich summarizes - provided that Kiev's information on accuracy is correct and the navigation is consistent.