Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has joined the advisory board of Ukraine’s leading defense company, renowned for its long-range drones capable of striking targets deep inside Russia, as a corruption investigation continues.
In an effort to enhance its international reputation, Fire Point is establishing a new factory in Denmark and bringing prominent industry figures on board. It also aims to expand its operations to produce battle-tested cruise missiles, with plans to more than double its current capacity.
However, public scrutiny remains intense during an ongoing corruption investigation. Fire Point’s executives insist they have nothing to hide and are operating under strict martial law protocols, even commissioning an independent audit to appease investigators. Critics, however, question the company’s opaque origins and the monopoly of its contracts with the Defense Ministry, and point to alleged links to President Volodymyr Zelensky’s notorious associate Tymur Mindich, who is implicated in a major corruption scandal.
“In general it’s good they are working on this,” said Iryna Terekh, Fire Point’s chief technology officer of the investigation. “We completely support, as a company, the fact that this investigation is happening.”
Terekh said Fire Point has commissioned a major international firm to conduct an independent audit of its pricing and production to quell concerns. The investigation by anti-corruption organizations, launched a year ago, is still ongoing, she said. “We will be waiting for the results to come.”
The Associated Press was given exclusive access to a factory in Ukraine where its cruise missile, known as the Flamingo or FP-5, is assembled. The AP was given access on the condition the exact location is not named, due the risk of Russian attacks.
Big plans
Fire Point, which rose to prominence after initially being relatively unknown following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, now reports around $1 billion in revenue this year. It is also constructing a factory in Denmark to manufacture essential rocket propellent.
In the meantime, the company is forging ahead with plans to expand.
The company launched an advisory board and named Pompeo as a member on Nov. 12, executives told AP. “It’s a big honor for us,” Terekh said, speaking from the factory floor. “We decided that since we are growing into a big international company, we have to ensure we are following the clearest and best corporate standards.”
Another three individuals will join the board. “We are rising as a company and we want a wise adviser board to help us establish this work,” said Terekh.
US Special Envoy to Ukraine Keith Kellogg also visited one of Fire Point’s factories during his last visit, executives said, in a visit that included other Ukrainian defense technology companies as well.
Building on the success of its deep-strike drone, the FP-1, which AP was granted exclusive access to view in August, the company is now planning to ramp up production of its cruise missiles. They are also in high demand among Ukrainian forces as Western missiles remain hard to access in sufficient quantities to debilitate Russian capabilities.
Fire Point has successfully tested Flamingo on the battlefield at least four times, company executives said. In late August it was used to strike an FSB base in Armiansk in the occupied Crimean Peninsula. This week, the missile was used to strike targets in the Russian city of Oryol. The company did not provide its current production capacity, citing security concerns.
Production is going according to plans, company executives said, without elaborating on precise figures for security concerns.
On the factory floor, dozens of hollowed hulls of missile frames lay scattered. These are made with carbon fiber, a material better suited to eluding Russian radars than aluminum, Maksym, the head of design told the AP. He spoke on condition that only his first name be used for security reasons.
Fire Point is a significant beneficiary of the so-called Danish model, a financing mechanism spearheaded by Denmark, in which foreign governments directly fund Ukrainian defense companies, rather than procuring weapons from their own industries to send as aid. A factory to produce solid rocket fuel for missiles, including the Flamingo, is being established in Denmark.
“They did a great job helping us to secure production of critical components,” Terekh said of Denmark’s support. “Our factory in Denmark is dedicated to solve a bottleneck with solid rocket propellent.”
Ongoing investigation
But the company’s rapid rise has been marred by an investigation by Ukraine’s anti-corruption watchdogs.
Authorities are examining whether Fire Point inflated component prices or drone quantities in Defense Ministry contracts for its main weapon, the FP-1 drone, and are also scrutinizing potential links between the company and Mindich.
Anti-corruption agencies have said they were not investigating the Flamingo missile.
Lawmakers raised an issue with Fire Point because of its apparent monopoly over deep strike drones, its ability to garner lucrative contracts despite being relatively unknown, and obscurity over its ownership. Its legally listed owner is Yehor Skalyha, who maintains connections to the entertainment industry, just like Mindich.
Anti-corruption watchdogs have not released the findings of their investigation. Company founder Denys Shtilerman told AP that he is the majority owner, with Skalyha owning 2 percent.
Shtilerman said he has met Mindich on several occasions, but the company denies the business owner has any links to their company.
Crowdfunding and testing
On Sunday, engineers from the company painted a pink flamingo on one Flamingo cruise missile whose purchase had been made by a crowdfunding campaign by a Czech organization, Weapons to Ukraine. Each missile costs approximately $500,000.
The amount was raised in two days, said Jan Polak, a member of the organization. The same organization managed to fund the delivery of a Black Hawk helicopter to Ukraine’s military intelligence, Polak said. “We feel that they are fighting for us,” he said of his organization’s reasons for funding the procurement of missiles to strike Russian targets.
The current design of the Flamingo missile is a compilation of old Soviet weapons and new techniques. Engines were sourced from old Soviet jets, for example.
Testing and fine-tuning is a constant process, Maksym said. “As of now we are still doing training launching, because our rockets were manufactured just six months ago. Right now, we are training, but we are training on objects in the territory of Russia and Crimea,” he said.
Workers conducted a mock run of a launch with a missile, this one painted black, that will be used in a future mission, he said. Workers drove in a truck that concealed the weapon.
“We are studying, doing all we can to hit targets as far as we can,” he said, adding that finding ways around Russian radar systems and electronic warfare remained an ongoing challenge. “We are learning from each launch to work on mistakes.”