Co-founder, CEO and CTO of Ukrainian defense-tech company Fire Point Iryna Terek spoke about the creation of the MILFTECH brand and community. The project aims to overcome gender stereotypes, support women in STEM and attract new personnel to the domestic defense-industrial complex.
Co-founder, CEO and CTO of Ukrainian defense-tech company Fire Point Iryna Terek spoke about the creation of the MILFTECH brand and community. The project aims to overcome gender stereotypes, support women in STEM and attract new personnel to the domestic defense-industrial complex.
She told about this in the FEDORIV VLOG issue. The co-founder of the company recalled that Fire Point started with 18 people — friends and former colleagues. For security reasons, the first hirings were carried out in a disguised format through Work.ua, and the first recruiter appeared only when the staff grew to 50 people.
Iryna Terek noted that the company now employs about 7,500 people, but the proportion of women currently does not exceed 15%. According to her, the idea for the name MILFTECH originally arose as a joke by a military man, but it has grown into a deep social and educational initiative.
"I realized that there are very few women in the defense industry or in STEM, not because they can't do something, but because they didn't know they could do it. No one told them about it, there was no culture and supportive society," Iryna Terek noted.
She added that many female professionals have faced sexism throughout their careers, which has deterred them from moving into "male fields." In her opinion, in miltech, skills, not gender, are important.
"We don't have a single operation in our company that requires genitals to perform. So if we can inspire someone through our upcoming manifesto to try something they were told wasn't for girls, we'll be happy to support it," the Fire Point manager emphasized.
In the long term, the plan is to publish a special manifesto under the Milftech brand, form a supportive community, and popularize engineering education among girls and women of all ages.
Iryna Terek is indeed engaged in the official legal registration of the MILFTECH brand. According to the trademark register, on March 2, 2026, an application was filed under number m202603938 for the MILFTECH TM (published on March 16, 2026). The applicant is Iryna Vyacheslavivna Terek from the city of Irpen.
The applied trademark covers classes 9, 12, 13, 25, 35, 41 and 42 of the ICPC. The list of goods and services includes software development, artificial intelligence, smart devices, protective equipment (body armor and helmets), civil and military drones, cars, aviation, weapons, ammunition and missile launchers. The application also covers educational services, including drone control training, marketing services and business consulting.
"I suggest to all girls, women, and perhaps even grandmothers, if they have such a desire, to join the existential struggle of Ukraine against Russia. And if you think that you are ready to change your profession and you have certain skills - because skills are needed not only in engineering - to join our team. This is such a short-term goal. And in the long term, I understand that I want to develop and popularize the importance of engineering education among girls and women," said Iryna Terek.
Previously, the head of Fire Point said that she considers the free transfer of a huge amount of battlefield data to Palantir a dubious step , the effect of which she compared to Ukraine's refusal to give up nuclear weapons.
