Born under the constant threat of Russian missile strikes, Ukraine’s drone industry has retaliated in kind, no longer relying on the goodwill of its Western allies. Scattered across the country, Fire Point, Ukraine’s leading manufacturer of long-range drones, has been producing an aircraft with a 6-meter wingspan to counter the Russian Shahed – a drone of Iranian design that has terrorized Ukrainians for three years.

In less than two years, production of the FP-1 has ramped up to now exceed 2,000 units per month, at roughly the same cost: €47,000 per drone. This “poor man’s cruise missile,” much like the Shahed, can carry a warhead of several dozen kilos to a precise target up to 1,400 kilometers away.

Thanks to massive orders from the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, the FP-1 has become the main weapon used to strike Russian oil, gas and defense industry infrastructure. Around two thirds of deep strikes inside Russia have been carried out with this drone. The remainder are attributed to drones whose manufacturers prefer to avoid any public mention. The FP-1 is discreetly refined and assembled in an unremarkable complex of buildings. Le Monde was able to visit the site on the condition that no details about its location would be revealed.

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