KYIV — Fire Point has scheduled flight tests for its FP-9 ballistic missile for summer 2026. The company signed a memorandum of understanding last week with Hensoldt to integrate radar into its ballistic missile defense system, which uses the FP-7X rocket as an interceptor.

Hensoldt, a Munich-based radar manufacturer, will supply its TRML-4D high-performance radar for the system. Fire Point hopes to have its first interceptors ready by the end of the year. The FP-9 ballistic missile can carry an 800-kg warhead up to 850 km. Battlefield tests for the munition are expected by autumn.

Denys Shtilierman, Fire Point's co-founder and chief designer, said the company is in the process of signing an agreement with a European defense firm to provide an imaging infrared (IIR) homing device for the interceptor missile. Talks are also underway with another European firm for a radio frequency (RF) seeker, which allows an interceptor missile to track targets using electromagnetic signals.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy previously stated that Fire Point would participate in the country's ballistic missile defense initiative, codenamed Freyja. Shtilierman noted a shift in engagement from European governments. "Something changed: our government and a lot of other European governments, for example the German government, connected to the initiative," he said. "If, for example, every European government starts moving swiftly, we can do interceptors by the end of this year."

Fire Point is currently awaiting approval from European governments to begin testing its interceptor missiles with the radar system. Completing the system requires European partners to provide a data uplink for real-time target data relay from radars to the interceptor missile, and a command-and-control center. Fire Point is also the maker of the Flamingo cruise missile.