(KYIV, UKRAINE) – Ukraine is collaborating with France, Germany and Britain to create a joint anti-ballistic missile shield, a move that signals Europe’s growing determination to construct a new and independent security architecture.
Following a meeting with the leaders of the three nations, collectively known as the E3, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced their intention to assist Ukraine with anti-ballistic missile defence. In an interview with The Guardian, he stressed that a country like Great Britain also requires such a system.
“The E3 countries will help us with anti-ballistics. By the way, I hope that we will be able to develop a European anti-ballistic system together with Great Britain. We are working on this. We need it, and Great Britain needs it,” Mr Zelenskyy stated.
The Head of State noted in the interview that Patriot missiles are expensive, costing 4 million dollars each, and that Great Britain does not have its own missile defence programme.
“London, Paris, Berlin, and other EU states should cooperate on creating an alternative to the American version,” The Guardian wrote, citing the President of Ukraine.
Mr Zelenskyy added that Ukraine is ready to share “its hard-won experience in fighting drones with its European friends” in return.
This initiative clearly refers to the pan European Freya anti-ballistic shield project, which is to be based on the FP-7.X interceptor missile produced by the Ukrainian company Fire Point.
In early June, Fire Point Chief Executive Officer and Chief Technology Officer Iryna Terekh reported on the testing of the FP-7.X interceptor missile and published a launch video.
“We simulated a test during which the missile receives a command from a ground radar. The missile is directed to a zone where a thermal seeker detects a ‘threat’ – a ballistic missile, and the missile intercepts it,” Fire Point co-founder and chief designer Denys Shtilerman explained to the defence publication Jane’s. He said the company plans a series of further test launches before deploying the interceptor against a live ballistic target.
Military experts reacted instantly to the missile tests. One expert, identified as Zemlyanyi, commented on the video demonstrating the FP-7.X’s launch and flight.
“In fact, this time we were shown that the missile is capable and has controllability, and can intercept aerial ballistic targets. That is, in this video, the most important thing is that the missile had a given trajectory and could perform manoeuvres in flight, which, in fact, help quite a lot in hitting ballistic missiles that fly along a quasi-trajectory and can perform manoeuvres in the final stage of their flight. This is very important, that the missile doesn’t just fly somewhere at a target, but it’s about hit-to-kill (kinetic interception – ed.), that is, about hitting the enemy ballistic missile itself and thus knocking it off course. And this is exactly the most important thing that was demonstrated to us in the latest video,” Zemlyanyi explained.
Western experts also evaluated the tests. Fabian Hoffmann, an expert in missile technology and defence policy, stated in a comment to the German publication Tagesspiegel that the idea has potential.
Fire Point aims to create not just an interceptor, but a missile that will cost significantly less than the PAC-3 missile for Patriot systems. The expected cost of the FP-7.X is up to one million dollars, while the cost of one Patriot missile starts from 4.9 million dollars. In a recently approved deal for Saudi Arabia, the cost per munition was 12.3 million dollars.
The key difference of the Freya project is its independence from external control, Mr Shtilerman stated. He explained that modern Western air defence systems often operate in a closed architecture format, where the supplier country or manufacturer retains control over critical elements.
“Freya is about intercepting ballistics. We proposed a pan-European anti-ballistic shield based on our interceptor and based on an open architecture and software solution that will prove to the end-user that this solution can never be turned off by the manufacturer, the company that sold it to them, or the country that sold it to them,” he explained. This represents a new philosophy of armament: not simply buying a security system, but gaining full sovereignty over it.
Besides Ukraine, Germany, France, Norway, and Sweden are participating in the project. Following President Zelenskyy’s statement, Great Britain may also join. The most difficult task, according to experts, is to mobilise European partners to accelerate the project’s implementation. Europeans are already demonstrating serious intent and interest in Freya, which could become the basis of a new security architecture for Europe amidst constant threats from the Russian Federation. Fire Point independently initiated an audit by one of the Big Four consulting firms, which lasted nine months and found no price gouging. The company also passed compliance checks by European partners and received the green light to cooperate with their security sector. This marks a move from intentions to concrete steps by the European bureaucratic machine towards Ukrainian defence innovations.
The system will be built on a lightweight mobile launcher of Ukrainian manufacture, according to open sources. The use of ground based long range early warning radars is planned. Three variants are being considered: the Giraffe 8A/4A produced by the Swedish concern SAAB, the Thales Ground Master 400 from France, or the Hensoldt TRML-4D from Germany. The illumination and guidance radar is the Weibel GFTR-2100/48 or the Leonardo KRONOS Land. The command post will be deployed based on the Norwegian Kongsberg Fire Distribution Centre. Its feature will be an open architecture and a Network Access Nodes module, allowing for custom integrations. Communication between all elements is carried out via the Link 16 tactical data link, standardised according to STANAG 5516. This protocol is the main interface for integrating Freya into Ukraine’s existing air defence system. An approach based on existing solutions will facilitate a faster launch, provided no obstacles arise. Not only Russia, but also individual arms manufacturers who dislike competition from Ukraine, may be uninterested in a system capable of radically changing the balance of power.
Despite the obstacles, President Zelenskyy personally supports the project. “I am constantly pushing this idea, which is very difficult because no one wants to have strong competitors. I am constantly pushing the idea of Ukrainian ballistics and Ukrainian anti-ballistics,” he stated.
European partners are gradually realising the changing logic of war, where the advantage goes to those capable of quickly implementing the cheapest innovative solutions. Ukraine is becoming the flagship of this process. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen stated: “We realised that you, as a country, are capable of producing faster, more creatively, and smarter than the rest of us, even though we are not at war. And this, frankly, is quite uncomfortable for the rest of Europe, but at the same time, it is truly impressive.”
The main requirement is not to interfere with the project’s launch. Once operational, Freya will not be just another air defence system. It is a precedent: for the first time, Ukraine can enter the pan-European security architecture not as a consumer of aid, but as an equal technological partner, and perhaps as the country that defined the standards for a new stage of defensive sovereignty.