Ukraine

German missile maker Diehl Defence is hoping to bring production of Ukraine’s Flamingo cruise missile to Germany as the continent races to acquire the ability to hit targets deep inside Russia.

Chief executive Helmut Rauch said that his company was planning talks in the coming weeks with Fire Point, one of Ukraine’s leading weapons manufacturers and the maker of a new FP-5 cruise missile that claims a range of more than 3,000km.

“We are in discussions about how we could work together,” Rauch told journalists at the ILA Berlin Air Show. “I think this could really happen,” he said. “In the next few weeks, we have several meetings regarding this and then we will see.”

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Diehl, which makes the Iris-T air defence system that has proved vital for Kyiv in fending off Russian missile attacks, in April signed a technology agreement with Fire Point but had not previously disclosed any details.

Rauch said that Diehl could offer Fire Point a much more advanced seeker — the part that detects a target and guides the weapon to it. He also pointed to Diehl’s more sophisticated system design and decades of experience.

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Moscow’s widespread use of ground-launched missiles in Ukraine — in addition to stationing long-range weapons in the Baltic Sea enclave of Kaliningrad — has spurred European nations to acquire or develop their own similar capabilities in a move they see as essential to deterring Russian aggression.

Speaking on a visit to Kyiv last month, German defence minister Boris Pistorius said the “technological leaps here in Ukraine are remarkable” and that joint ventures were being explored for weapons, including long-range drones, air defences and electronic warfare.

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