UAE EDGE Group Eyes Minority Stake in Ukrainian Flamingo Missile Manufacturer Fire Point.

The United Arab Emirates is preparing to acquire a roughly 30 percent stake in Ukraine’s defense technology firm Fire Point, developer of the FP-5 Flamingo cruise missile, according to reporting by BBC News Ukraine on December 30, 2025. The deal, valuing the company at about 2.5 billion dollars, would mark one of the most significant foreign investments in Ukraine’s wartime defense sector and signal growing international confidence in its military technology base.

The United Arab Emirates is moving closer to a landmark investment in Ukraine’s defense industry, as sources familiar with the talks told BBC News Ukraine that the Emirati EDGE defense group plans to buy a minority stake in Fire Point, a Ukrainian company known for its long-range strike drones and the FP-5 Flamingo cruise missile. If finalized, the proposed acquisition of about 30 percent of Fire Point would value the company at roughly 2.5 billion dollars, placing it among the most valuable defense technology firms to emerge from Ukraine since the start of the war.
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Building on this operational experience, Fire Point transitioned from expendable UAVs to cruise missiles with the FP-5 Flamingo (Picture source: Army Recognition)

The planned transaction, estimated at roughly 760 million dollars, reflects more than financial interest. It is closely tied to the emergence of the FP-5 Flamingo cruise missile, a system that has begun to alter assessments of Ukraine’s indigenous deep-strike capabilities. Fire Point has already submitted the required documentation to Ukraine’s Antimonopoly Committee, signaling that the deal has advanced beyond exploratory talks and into a formal regulatory phase.

Fire Point, founded in 2022, first gained prominence through its FP-1 and FP-2 one-way attack UAVs. These systems became a backbone of Ukraine’s deep-strike campaign against Russian military infrastructure, with Ukrainian General Staff data indicating that FP-1 drones were responsible for more than half of successful hits on targets deep inside Russian-controlled territory. The FP-1 carries a warhead of around 60 kilograms to ranges approaching 1,400 kilometers, while the FP-2 increases payload to about 100 kilograms with a reduced range of roughly 200 kilometers, prioritizing flexibility and cost efficiency.

Building on this operational experience, Fire Point transitioned from expendable UAVs to cruise missiles with the FP-5 Flamingo. The missile represents a deliberate design philosophy that favors range, payload, and affordability over stealth or speed. With a claimed reach of up to 3,000 kilometers, a maximum takeoff weight of approximately 6,000 kilograms, and a warhead reportedly weighing up to 1,150 kilograms, Flamingo ranks among the largest ground-launched cruise missiles currently under development anywhere in the world. Its payload, believed to be based on a conventional aerial bomb, offers destructive power far exceeding that of one-way attack drones and rivals heavier Western and legacy Soviet cruise missile systems.

The missile’s size is largely driven by its propulsion choice. Instead of relying on specialized miniature turbojets, Fire Point has opted to integrate the Ivchenko AI-25TL turbofan engine, originally designed for crewed aircraft such as the Aero L-39 Albatros trainer. This approach allows Ukraine to bypass export controls and high costs associated with modern cruise missile engines, while taking advantage of surplus and second-hand powerplants available from retired aircraft. The trade-off is a large and non-stealthy airframe, but one that can be produced at lower cost and potentially in greater numbers.

Guidance and control systems follow a similar logic. There is no evidence that Flamingo employs advanced terrain contour matching or digital scene-matching technologies typical of high-end cruise missiles. Instead, the missile is assessed to rely primarily on satellite navigation supported by jam-resistant controlled reception pattern antennas and open-source autopilot software derived from ArduPilot. The antenna configuration and lack of visible electro-optical or infrared sensors suggest the absence of a high-bandwidth data link, although a limited low-bandwidth channel for telemetry or basic in-flight updates cannot be ruled out.

From a survivability standpoint, Flamingo is subsonic, non-stealthy, and theoretically vulnerable to modern air defense systems. However, its extreme range provides operational flexibility that partially compensates for these weaknesses. Ukrainian planners are believed to employ indirect routing and complex flight paths to exploit gaps in Russian sensor coverage, a tactic already proven effective with long-range UAVs. The heavy warhead further enhances the missile’s military value, allowing a single successful penetration to achieve effects that would otherwise require multiple drone strikes.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed in October that Flamingo missiles had already been used in real combat operations on at least nine occasions, including coordinated strikes alongside Neptune cruise missiles. Ukrainian media have also reported a possible earlier salvo launch against targets in Crimea in late August, suggesting that the system may have entered limited operational use even as testing continues.

Production scale remains a critical variable. Fire Point claims it can currently manufacture up to one Flamingo missile per day, with plans to increase output to as many as seven per day by October, depending on funding and component availability. The reliance on AI-25TL engines offers cost advantages but raises long-term questions about supply, particularly if new engine production cannot be sustained domestically. President Zelensky has indicated that expanded production will depend on continued successful testing and government support.

For the UAE, the prospective acquisition aligns closely with EDGE Group’s strategy of absorbing combat-proven technologies to accelerate its missile and autonomous systems portfolio. Established in 2017 and headquartered in Abu Dhabi, EDGE oversees more than 35 entities across missile systems, platforms, cyber, and space. Ukrainian-developed systems such as Flamingo offer a rare combination of long range, heavy payload, and real-world combat validation against a peer adversary, qualities that few export-market weapons currently provide.

The deal is not without risk. Fire Point has faced scrutiny from Ukrainian anti-corruption bodies regarding aspects of its government contracts, although no charges have been announced, and state orders continue. At the same time, Russian forces may attempt to neutralize the program by targeting production facilities, as seen with strikes against Ukraine’s Sapsan ballistic missile infrastructure. In this context, the relatively distributed and less specialized manufacturing base required for cruise missiles like Flamingo may offer greater resilience than solid-fuel ballistic missile programs.

If finalized, the EDGE investment would mark a strategic convergence between Ukrainian wartime innovation and Emirati capital. For Ukraine, it promises funding, industrial scalability, and potential access to international markets. For the UAE, it represents entry into a missile program shaped directly by modern high-intensity warfare, signaling a shift toward partnerships grounded not just in technology transfer but in battlefield relevance.