Ukraine's Giant Flamingo Missile May Have Blown Up A Russian Parking Lot

Inertial guidance can cause missiles to drift

An FP-5 launch. 19th Missile Brigade capture

The Ukrainian army targeted a strategic electronics plant deep inside Russia on the night of May 4, firing at least one 6-ton Fire Point FP-5 Flamingo cruise missile. The FP-5 ranges as far as 3,000 km under inertial guidance..

The VNIIR-Progress plant builds the Kometa anti-jamming antennas that keep Russian Shaheds, Iskanders and glide bombs locked onto their targets despite Ukrainian electronic warfare.

The missile or missiles’ 1,150-kg warheads exploded with a thunderous blast and gout of fire on or near the VNIIR-Progress campus in Cheboksary, 960 km from the Russia-Ukraine border. A blaze raged through the night. The next morning, as Ukrainian drones motored in for a follow-on strike, shattered windows and scorching were visible on some of the buildings on the sprawling campus.

But the damage may have been the result of a near miss.