Fire Point, the Ukrainian manufacturer of Kyiv’s new Flamingo cruise missiles, said the current production capacity is one per day, with the goal of reaching seven per day by October.

Initial unveilings of the missile suggest that it visually resembles the FP-5 system made by UK-based Milanion Group, which has a stated production capacity of 50 missiles per month.

But the relationships between Fire Point and Milanion Group remain unclear.

Iryna Terekh, head of production at Fire Point, told AP News the current and planned production numbers of the Flamingo.

“Fire Point is producing roughly one Flamingo per day, and by October, they hope to build capacity to make seven per day, Terekh said,” AP News wrote.

The missile, which reportedly underwent successful testing in recent months, has a range of 3,000 kilometers (1,864 miles) that enables it to hit deep into Russia, beyond the Ural Mountains and into the Asian parts of Russia.

The company said it has already seen combat.

AP News, citing industry experts, reported that the missile was named Flamingo after its first batch turned out pink due to manufacturing flaws – a name that has since stuck.

In addition to the previously listed specifications, AP News added that the missile can strike within 14 meters (45 feet) of its target.

Terekh said Moscow’s resource advantage meant Kyiv has to look to the sky for answers.

“Fighting in the air is our only real asymmetric advantage on the battlefield at the moment. We don’t have as much manpower or money as they have,” Terekh told AP News.

An official also said Kyiv must look inward for solutions as the future of Western support remains uncertain.

“We believe our best guarantee is not relying on somebody’s will to protect us, but rather our ability to protect ourselves,” Arsen Zhumadilov, the head of Kyiv’s arms procurement agency, told AP News.

What is the Flamingo?

The Flamingo is Ukraine’s new long-range subsonic cruise missile, whose range and size on paper make it one of the largest and longest-range in its class.

The missile has an on-paper range of 3,000 kilometers, a flight attitude up to 5 kilometers (16,400 feet), a maximum flight time of 4 hours, as well as a maximum speed of 950 kilometers per hour (590 miles per hour) and a cruise speed of 859-900 kilometers per hour (528–559 miles per hour).

It is equipped with a 1,150-kilogram (2,353-pound) warhead – also one of the largest in class. The missile is ground-launched with a stated preparation time of 20-40 minutes.

A company representative previously told state media Ukrinform that the missile outperforms the US’s battle-tested Tomahawk cruise missile – a claim Kyiv Post determines to be mostly substantiated based on the on-paper specifications.

Is the production enough to keep Moscow’s troops at bay?

The stated production capacity is at least on par with Russia’s missile production as of March.

“Russia has the capacity to produce approximately one or two Kalibr cruise missiles per day, that is, 30-60 missiles per month and approximately 365-700 per year,” military expert Oleksandr Kovalenko told state media Ukrinform in March when commenting on the production capacity and performance of Neptune, Ukraine’s naval-based missile.

“The situation is similar to the production of Kh-101 missiles, which are produced in numbers not exceeding two missiles per day. That’s to say, even putting together Kalibrs and Kh-101s, the combined production rate does not exceed about 1,400 missiles per year, which is less than half the yearly production rate of 3,000 Ukrainian missiles,” he added, referring to Ukraine’s production target at the time.

Given that the Flamingo is a long-range missile – a capability Kyiv has long sought from its Western allies – its production and specifications mark a major leap beyond what Ukraine has previously received.

Currently, none of the Western missiles supplied to Kyiv – including the US-made ATACMS and the British-French Storm Shadow and SCALP – come close to matching the Flamingo’s range.

In addition, the domestic nature of the Flamingo also means Kyiv does not have to seek outside approval for targeting inside Russia – an issue that has plagued Kyiv’s operations before.

It is too soon to tell whether the Flamingo will be a true game-changer, but if the reported details are true, it stands to be one of the most formidable weapons in Kyiv’s arsenal.