Ukraine's Giant Flamingo Missile Punched A 100-Foot Hole In a Russian Munitions Workshop
But the Ukrainians aren't striking often enough to cause lasting damage to Russian industry
On Feb. 20, a Ukrainian Fire Point FP-5 Flamingo cruise missile struck a workshop at a missile factory in Votkinsk, in central Russia 800 miles from the front line in Ukraine. A fire raged through the night and, two days later, satellite imagery confirmed the damage.
The six-ton Flamingo punched a hole in the workshop roof measuring 100 feet across. The damage inside the workshop was surely catastrophic.
The Votkinsk raid was probably the most successful of the few verifiable Flamingo raids. In nine months, the Ukrainians have fired around 16 missiles in seven raids resulting in just four damaging hits.
That’s two missiles a month. And one damaging strike every two months. Contrast the FP-5’s actual impact with Fire Point’s initial claims. Back in August, the company insisted it would soon churn out seven of the 1,900-mile-range Flamingos a day, arming Ukrainian forces with enough long-range firepower to dramatically expand Ukraine’s deep strike campaign targeting Russian industry.
