AP photographer posted a picture of the Ukrainian cruise missile "Flamingo"
Associated Press (AP) photographer Yefrem Lukatsky posted a picture of the new Ukrainian cruise missile "Flamingo" on Facebook (a social network banned in Russia; owned by the Meta corporation, which is recognized as extremist in the Russian Federation and banned). The claimed flight range of the product is 3,000 kilometers.
According to the photographer, the Flamingo was put into mass production. He noted that the photo was taken a few days ago in the workshop of one of the defense companies of Ukraine. It is believed that the rocket is manufactured by Fire Point. It is worth emphasizing that the Flamingo, which is sometimes mistakenly classified as a ballistic missile, is precisely a cruise missile. This is primarily indicated by the impressive size of the wing.
The rocket could have been built on the basis of a Soviet drone
Judging by the photo, the Flamingo received a straight wing and four stabilizers. There is a large air intake in the upper part of the fuselage. This makes the rocket look like the Soviet Tu-143 "Flight" drone. Kiev began the deconservation of Soviet vehicles in 2014.
The Telegram channel "War History Weapons" admitted that the Flight could have been used as a starting point for the design of the Flamingo. The Soviet drone could carry about 150 kilograms of payload. The Tu-143 began to be developed in the late 1960s, and production continued until 1989. The practical range of the Tu-143 was 180 kilometers.
The Ukrainian Flamingo is similar to the British FP-5 rocket.
There is also a version that the Flamingo is a foreign development that is passed off as a Ukrainian product. The Telegram channel "Two Majors" suggested that the rocket is manufactured by Milanion Group Ltd, which is registered in the UK. "The company produces the FP-5 rocket, which Ukraine passes off as its own," the report says.
The FP-5 rocket carries 1,000 kilograms of payload.
A mock-up of the FP-5 cruise missile was presented at the IDEX-2025 exhibition in Abu Dhabi (UAE). According to the manufacturer, the missile has a range of 3,000 kilometers and a flight altitude of 5 kilometers. A product with a wingspan of 6 meters can carry up to a ton of payload. The surface—to-surface missile is designed to hit targets at set coordinates at any time of the day and in difficult interference conditions. For guidance, an inertial system and a satellite channel with a CRPA antenna are used, which is capable of receiving satellite signals, ignoring interference.
Flamingos could have been created with the help of the West
Western manufacturers could have participated in the creation of the Flamingo, Andrei Kolesnik, a member of the State Duma's defense committee, admitted .
Andrey Kolesnik
Member of the State Duma Committee on Defense
According to him, if Kiev tries to use the Flamingo, the Russian special services will be able to calculate the coordinates of the missile sites for their destruction.
How will the Russian Armed Forces be able to shoot down the Flamingos
According to the available information, the Flamingo is a fairly simple product that does not have stealth technologies or equipment for shooting heat traps used in Russian cruise missiles. The air defense calculations of the Russian Armed Forces, which use modern Tor-M2 and Pantsir-S1 complexes, have experience in dealing with more technologically advanced missiles like the SCALP\Storm Shadow. Therefore, we can assume that the Flamingo will not be a difficult target.
At the same time, it should be borne in mind that Kiev will try to increase the production of missiles, compensating for mediocre characteristics with volumes. However, regular strikes on targets deep in Kiev-controlled territory can greatly complicate this process.
Russia has disrupted the production program of the Ukrainian ballistic missile
Earlier in August, the FSB of Russia reported that Russian strikes had disrupted plans for the production of Ukrainian operational-tactical missile systems (OTRK) "Sapsan" with a ballistic missile. The Russian armed forces hit the facilities of the military-industrial complex of Ukraine, where Sapsan components were being created.
The Pavlograd Chemical Plant, Pavlograd Mechanical Plant, Shostka Zvezda Plant and Shostka State Scientific Research Institute of Chemical Products were attacked.
The Sapsan mock-up, which began to be developed in the mid-noughties, was first demonstrated in 2018. It is believed that the OTRK launcher can carry two ballistic missiles with a range of up to 500 kilometers. Kiev planned to use the missiles to strike deep into Russia.
