Build its own missile shield

Ukraine races to build its own missile shield as Patriot supplies run short

Facing American interceptor shortages, Kyiv is pitching its own system linked with pan-European technology to fill the gap.

By Veronika Melkozerova

Ukraine wants to produce a homegrown missile defense system as supplies of the U.S.-made interceptors it relies on to shoot down Russian ballistic missiles grow tighter. 

"I believe Europe should be able to produce everything it needs to defend against everything — all the ballistic attacks and all other weapons — on its own," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told fellow leaders during a summit of the European Political Community in Armenia Monday.

Last month, Zelenskyy set a goal for a Ukrainian anti-ballistic system "within a year” — but reaching that target won't be easy.

The effort reflects a broader push by Kyiv and its European allies to reduce dependence on American weapons as Trump’s unpredictable foreign policy exposes the risks of relying too heavily on Washington.

The American and Israeli attack on Iran has caused a growing deficit of the U.S.-made PAC-3 interceptor missiles, used in Washington’s Patriot missile defense system and fired by U.S. forces and American allies in Gulf. They are desperately needed by Ukraine, as they have proven to be most effective against Russian ballistic missiles.

If there is a shortage of U.S. weapons, Europe cannot produce enough alternative missile defense systems like the German IRIS-T or the Franco-Italian SAMP-T to cover Ukraine's needs. While Kyiv relies on the NATO-led Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List funding scheme to purchase as many PAC-3s as possible from the United States, it is also now working on an alternative solution.

But making systems capable of intercepting ballistic missiles is complex. It requires powerful radars to detect and track targets early, calculate their trajectory and guide interceptors, Kyiv-based defense consulting company Defense Express said in a report.

Interceptors also need advanced homing systems to lock on and ensure a direct hit, it added.

Ukrainian firms are pushing ahead regardless.

Drone and radio-electronic warfare producer BlueBird Tech announced the launch of its missile development division at the end of April, and Fire Point, producer of Ukraine's long-range Flamingo cruise missile, has developed a pan-European air defense system idea — Project Freya — its owner, Denys Shtilerman, told POLITICO.

Pan-European system

Fire Point’s Freya project combines a Ukrainian lightweight missile launcher, similar to that used by the Flamingo, paired with the company's FP-7 interceptor missiles fitted with German Diehl Defense homing heads.

The FP-7 is a 7-meter-long, lightweight composite missile that can fly at 1,500 meters per second. “It’s a clone of the [Russian] S-400 ... that can be integrated into the EU [radars and command and control systems],” Shtilerman said.

Originally conceived as a cheaper alternative to Lockheed Martin’s ATACMS surface-to-surface ballistic missile, the FP-7 can also be adapted for use as an anti-missile interceptor in the event of shortages in existing air defense systems.

Shtilerman said Fire Point could teach European radar systems how to integrate with its FP-7s to create an anti-ballistic system that could help Ukraine and Europe reduce reliance on the United States for air defense.

Ukraine is also taking advantage of the war against Russia to test missile systems.

"Every ballistic missile launch costs some $5 million to train it, then test it and intercept it. We offer ours for testing free of charge," Shtilerman said. In return, the company wants free access to EU ground-based radars and EU homing heads — key elements that Ukraine so far can’t produce.

He said he sees Freya as a pan-European project, pointing to potential components that could integrate into the system from across the continent: Swedish Saab Giraffe 8A, French Thales Ground Master 200/400 or German Hensoldt TRML-4D as an early warning radar; Denmark's Weibel GFTR-2100/48 as an illumination and guidance radar; Norway's Kongsberg Fire Distribution Center as a command center for the system; and NATO’s Link 16 tactical military data link as the backbone of system-wide integration.

Fire Point's chief refused to say whether any of these companies had shown interest in collaborating on the Freya project.

Bureaucracy barrier

While testing on the FP-7 is going well, it's not a given that Ukraine’s first ballistic interceptor will be ready in a year.

 “It all depends on European bureaucracy. We need integration, but we don’t have radars and homing heads. So, it all depends on how fast we’re going to get to them,” Shtilerman said.

European red tape is exactly what can shoot down projects like Freya at their starting point, said Keir Giles, associate fellow with Chatham House.

“It is now universally recognized that Ukraine is the center of expertise globally for dealing with concentrated missile and drone attacks,” Giles said.

“But ... when we talk about Europe, it's hard to see who would be able to move forward on a project like that without all of the dead weight of European legislation and conflict, or rather competition, between individual countries that usually prevents projects like this from getting off the ground” even in the presence of a clear threat in Europe, the analyst added.