The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has announced the first combat deployment of Ukraine’s FP-7 tactical ballistic missile. According to him, the next stage will be to scale up production of this weapon. Prior to this, the developer, Fire Point, had reported that the FP-7 had passed two stages of testing and was being prepared for testing in combat conditions.
Zelenskyy confirmed the operational use of the FP-7
Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported that Ukrainian tactical ballistics FP-7 was used in combat for the first time.
«The Ukrainian FP-7 tactical ballistic missile — its first combat deployment. Thank you for the result. Next up — scaling up production,» said the President.
The Head of State did not provide any details of the operation. In particular, it has not yet been reported that, how many missiles were used, which specific target was attacked, and where the missiles were deployed in combat.
The President’s public statement thus marks the transition of the FP-7 from the testing phase to operational use by the Defence Forces.
What is known about FP-7
The FP-7 is being developed by a Ukrainian defence company Fire Point. In September, the company’s director, Iryna Terekh, reported that the missile had successfully passed two of the three test phases and was moving on to military trials. At the time, Fire Point stated that there were still «weeks, not months».
According to the manufacturer’s published specifications, the FP-7 is a ground-based tactical ballistic missile. Its stated range is within up to 200–300 km, depending on the configuration, as well as a warhead weighing up to 150–200 kg. The figures varied across different public presentations, so the final specifications of the production combat version have not been disclosed.
Fire Point had previously also stated that approximately 15 test launches of the FP-7 and undergoing the codification process for use by the Ukrainian armed forces.
The next stage is mass production
Zelenskyy’s statement places particular emphasis on scaling up. This means that, following the first combat deployment confirmed by the president, the main focus is now shifting to increasing the number of missiles available.
Over recent months, the Ukrainian authorities have repeatedly cited the development of their own ballistics as one of the key areas of the defence industry. Zelenskyy has previously spoken of the need to accelerate the relevant programmes and turn successful tests into actual weapons.
The President has not yet specified the exact volumes of future FP-7 production.
