Ukraine's Best Attack Drone Now Packs More Fuel. That Puts Half Of Russia In The Strike Zone.

The Fire Point FP-1(ER) has a bigger wing.

A Fire Point FP-1(ER). Social media capture

This story was commissioned by Euromaidan Press. Since Substack pays only around a fifth of my bills, I have no choice but to take on a lot of freelance work. I still want my Substack audience to know where to read those freelance stories, however. Hence this excerpt.

Around seven Ukrainian drones motored more than 2,500 km on Monday to strike, for the first time, a refinery in Omsk in western Russia. It was one of the deepest Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian soil in the 53 months since Russia widened its war on Ukraine.

The Omsk refinery is one of the 11 biggest refineries in Russia. The daytime drone raid damaged two distillation units at the sprawling facility that process a combined 50,000 tons of oil every day. On Tuesday, the Omsk facility suspended sales on the Saint Petersburg International Mercantile Exchange.

It was a powerful blow against the Russian economy. And it was all thanks to a new Ukrainian drone type: the Fire Point FP-1 Extended Range. The new drone ranges a startling 3,400 km, according to Fire Point designer Denys Shtilierman. That’s more than three times as far as the original FP-1 model.

Eagle-eyed observers, scrutinizing video of the Monday strike, quickly spotted the key difference between the FP-1(ER) and the original FP-1.

The FP-1(ER) has larger wings. “The wings are longer and shaped differently than the previous model ... and reportedly hold extra fuel tanks,” Canadian drone expert Roy noted.

That bigger wing likely adds to the drone’s $50,000 unit price in its basic configuration. But it’s well worth the cost. While Ukraine does possess other deep strike munitions with similar range, including the Fire Point FP-5 cruise missile, those other munitions are probably much, more expensive than the FP-1(ER) is.

Ukrainian forces might be able to buy several FP-1(ER)s for the cost of one $500,000 FP-5. Fire Point claimed it produces 300 FP-1s and similar FP-2s every day.

Read the rest at Euromaidan Press.