CEO of Ukraine’s Fire Point: Freyja anti-ballistic missile program seeks ‘best players’

KIELCE, Poland — The head of a high-profile Ukrainian defense company says that while the international Freyja anti-ballistic missile project may not have made “flashy” strides in the weeks since its July inception, there has been a wave of important “technology integration,” with more on the way.

Without falling to vendor lock, “our task is to choose the best players in the market, integrate the whole architecture together [and] tailor each system to the purpose of being able to intercept ballistic targets,” Fire Point CEO Iryna Terekh, told Breaking Defense on the sidelines of the MSPO defense exhibition here.

Firepoint’s FP-7X missile serves as Freyja’s interceptor, and the company acts as main system integrator for the 10-nation program. It is targeting a cost of $1 million per unit. (Full scale mock ups of the company’s FP-1 long-range drone, FP-5 Flamingo cruise missile, alongside FP-7 and FP-9 ballistic missiles, were displayed here at the show.)

Terekh said she had “just returned” from a Freyja steering group meeting co-led by Norway and Ukraine, alongside involvement from industry executives.

“[A] lot has happened since the anti-ballistic coalition was signed in Paris,” she explained. “Of course, it is not maybe something flashy to show, but by the amount of technical integration work that is already behind [us], I see how the approach” is producing an initial result.

Partners are preparing for Freyja’s “zero test” by year end, she noted. In parallel, more work is underway to select additional suppliers.

“It is very important when you buy air defense [equipment] … to ensure that it will always work.” she added. “[That] it will not have a kill switch, it will not have proprietary dependence on [a] specific vendor.”

In August, Fire Point clinched more than 12 agreements with European defense companies to provide radar, guidance and additional systems for Freyja, according to a Reuters report. 

Asked of her experience working with European firms, Terekh said she prefers those that “work and think in Ukrainian speed and [with a] Ukrainian mindset, because we do not have the luxury of having spare time. We do not have the luxury of losing August for holidays.”

Separate from industrial planning, Fire Point claimed on Wednesday that Ukrainian forces launched Ukraine’s deepest strike on Russia since the outbreak of the war using its products. In a telegram post it said two FP-1 drones flew over 3,200 km to hit gas facilities located in Northwestern Siberia.