Ukraine uses its own FP-7 ballistic missile in combat for the first time

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on 1 October that Ukrainian forces had carried out the first combat use of the domestically produced FP-7 tactical ballistic missile. In a post on X he wrote: “Ukrainian tactical ballistic missile. FP-7. First combat use. Thank you for the result. Next up: production. Glory to Ukraine!”

He also released footage of the launch. He did not name the target, location or result.

Ukrainian tactical ballistic missile. FP-7. First combat use. Thank you for the result. Next up: production. Glory to Ukraine! pic.twitter.com/IxdjVg51c1
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) October 1, 2026

The FP-7 is made by Fire Point, a Ukrainian company that also builds the FP-1 long-range strike drone and the FP-5 Flamingo cruise missile. Published figures for the FP-7 vary slightly by source: range of roughly 200–250 km, warhead of about 150–200 kg, top speed around 1,500 m/s, peak altitude near 60 km, and a claimed circular error of about 14 metres. Company officials have compared it to the US ATACMS but said it costs roughly half as much, with most components made in-house. Development of the FP-7 and a longer-range FP-9 (claimed up to about 850 km) was announced in September 2025; the FP-7 was first test-launched in February 2026 and entered military trials later in the year. Zelenskyy had said in August that a domestic ballistic missile could see combat use this autumn.

The episode fits a wider pattern of unusually rapid Ukrainian weapons development since 2022. Fire Point itself was founded that year by people from non-defence backgrounds. Its FP-1 drone moved from design work in late 2022 to a first flight in January 2023, certification in May, and an initial production contract that autumn. Output later scaled sharply: the firm has claimed production rates of long-range drones in the hundreds per day at peak, and overall Ukrainian drone manufacturing has roughly doubled each year, with official targets reaching several million units in 2026. By late 2025, commanders said the large majority of long-range drones used in operations were Ukrainian-made.

Cruise missiles followed a similar compressed timeline. The FP-5 Flamingo, with a claimed range of up to 3,000 km and a warhead of about 1,150 kg, was publicly revealed in August 2025; Zelenskyy announced the start of serial production days later, and early combat uses were reported the same month and autumn. Ballistic missiles are harder. Ukraine has long depended on limited Western stocks such as ATACMS for this class of weapon. Fire Point’s leadership has said the FP-7 programme was compressed into less than two years, against the 15–30 years more typical for such systems, drawing partly on Soviet-era missile architecture while replacing guidance and control. A solid-fuel plant was also built in Denmark to support the effort. Serial production of the FP-7 is the stated next step; the longer-range FP-9 remains in testing, with company officials aiming for readiness later in 2026.

Fire Point is also the lead integrator for Freyja (also known as Freya), a European ballistic-missile defence project launched in 2026 and backed by Ukraine and several NATO states. The interceptor variant, designated FP-7.x, is a faster derivative of the same missile family, intended to cost under €1 million per shot—roughly a quarter to a sixth of a Patriot interceptor. European partners including Hensoldt, Diehl Defence, Kongsberg and others are supplying radar, seekers and command systems; Fire Point aims for a first successful ballistic interception around mid-2027 and has spoken of producing up to 2,000 interceptors a year.

FREYA takes shape: Ukraine offers Europe a cheaper path to ballistic missile defence

There are two critical principles in modern warfare: 1) Systems must work together; 2) We can never rely on just one supplier.
We are building these principles into FREYJA, our new European anti-ballistic missile defense system. This approach lets us combine systems from… pic.twitter.com/YrRO2U0Ljs
— Fire Point (@FirePointUA) September 24, 2026