Ukraine has developed its own turbojet engine for the Flamingo
The Ukrainian company Fire Point has developed its own turbojet engine, which may power the FP-5 “Flamingo” winged rocket in the future. The manufacturer is currently assembling the first prototypes and plans to complete testing by the end of 2026.
According to Terekh, the new turbojet engine was developed in collaboration with the same design bureau that originally created the AI-25 engine. It was a modification of that engine, the AI-25TL, that was first used on the FP-5 “Flamingo” winged missile.
“The ‘Flamingo’ was originally designed as a flexible platform capable of operating with various types of engines. Therefore, we can indeed significantly expand the list of supported engines,” Terekh stated.
She noted that during the course of the project, the missile has already been equipped with five different types of engines. The development of the company’s own turbojet engine for unmanned aerial vehicles took more than six months. The company is currently assembling the first ten prototypes with an in-house-produced fan unit.
“We are currently assembling the first 10 prototypes of our future turbojet engines with fan assemblies of our own production,” Terekh said.
Rocket Production and Reliance on Contracts
She also emphasized that manufacturing the turbojet engine turned out to be a more challenging task than building the rocket itself.
By the end of this year, Fire Point plans to complete testing of all prototypes, refine the design, and move to mass production as early as next year.
At the same time, the company has not yet managed to reach the planned production rate for “Flamingo” rockets—at least seven units per day.
“Unfortunately, since Ukraine was awaiting the disbursement of funds from a European Union loan, the volume of orders did not match our maximum production capacity, so production was scaled back... We expect to ramp up production to the specified level. This will likely happen by the end of this year or early next year. It depends on how contracts come in,” explained Fire Point’s CEO.
As a reminder, on Monday, July 28, Fire Point reported that Ukrainian FP-1 drones struck a warehouse belonging to the Russian logistics operator 3PL in the village of Koledino.
Estonian intelligence estimated Russia’s losses from the strikes on Wildberries at $2 billion.
The U.S. will increase production of PAC-3 missiles for Patriot systems.
