The German Ministry of Defense is in talks with Israeli and Ukrainian missile manufacturers, seeking a cheap alternative to American cruise missiles to build its own arsenal of long-range strike weapons.
The German Ministry of Defense is in talks with Israeli and Ukrainian missile manufacturers, seeking a cheap alternative to American cruise missiles to build its own arsenal of long-range strike weapons.
This is reported by Politico, citing planning documents from the German Ministry of Defense.
The impetus for the search for alternatives came from Donald Trump, who decided not to deploy a unit with long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles in Germany — despite the fact that Berlin’s negotiations to purchase these missiles for itself are still ongoing. The German Ministry of Defense’s Armaments Directorate has shown interest in small defense companies — Ukrainian Fire Point and Israeli Covenant.
Two Ukrainian companies have been shortlisted — a first for a large-scale European defense contract, demonstrating the technological leap of the Ukrainian defense industry.
Planning documents show that Germany is implementing a four-pronged plan to develop a long-range ground-based arsenal: the purchase of the American Typhon launch complex (ready by 2029), the purchase of cheap cruise missiles (ready by 2027), as well as two long-term European projects jointly with Britain — a high-precision cruise missile (2032) and a hypersonic glide vehicle (2035).
Planning documents name two Ukrainian systems as candidates for the low-cost cruise missile track: Fire Point’s Flamingo and Bars, a medium-range rocket-propelled drone produced by an unnamed Ukrainian company. Both systems are being considered for experimental research that could lead to a production contract if the weapons prove viable.
Fire Point’s FP-5 Flamingo cruise missile has a range of 3,000 kilometers, a warhead weighing 1 ton, and is already hitting targets in Russia. The Bars missile has also reportedly been used in recent Ukrainian strikes on Russia.
The German manufacturer of IRIS-T air defense systems, Diehl Defence, is in talks with Fire Point regarding possible joint production of Flamingo in Germany, the Financial Times previously reported.
Ukrainian missiles cost about $500,000 per unit — about a fifth of the cost of a Tomahawk, making them more suitable for a war of attrition like the one Ukraine is waging against Russia.
However, obstacles remain: planning documents indicate export restrictions around Fire Point’s Flamingo, so the system will have to overcome legal and political barriers before becoming part of German procurement.
The Iraq war also depleted the U.S. Tomahawk stockpile—the Washington Post estimates that 850 missiles were fired in the first weeks of the conflict, about a quarter of the total U.S. stockpile. According to CSIS, the U.S. Navy will receive only 110 new missiles this year.
A spokesman for the German Defense Ministry said the war in Ukraine had shown that hitting strategic targets deep behind enemy lines had become «indispensable for reliable deterrence.» Cost-effective systems can overload enemy air defenses with massive attacks and therefore have high operational value, the spokesman added, declining to discuss specific procurement plans or companies.
What they say at Fire Point
Speaking at the Eurosatory arms show in Paris, Fire Point CEO Iryna Terek said Ukraine’s progress in the missile industry is the result of close cooperation between defense manufacturers, end users, the army and the government. She said Kyiv has «removed a lot of bureaucracy,» allowing companies to focus on R&D and development — a model she said is more difficult to replicate in German procurement procedures.
