A Gift For Putin
By: Giorgio Provinciali
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Dnipro Once again, Tomahawk deliveries are fading from Ukraines horizon just as Russia ramps up its attacks using cruise missiles whose very existence was one of the reasons for the US withdrawal from arms control. To address urgent operational needs, Kyiv is responding by prioritizing domestic projects, including the FP-5, known as Flamingo, and the low-cost interceptor program, which President Zelensky discussed yesterday.
Ukraine has announced the immediate operational deployment of new FP-5 and Ruta missiles, along with the industrial capacity to produce 600800 interceptor drones daily by the end of the month, costing about $3,000 each. According to government officials, these numbers could double with additional financial investment.
Examiningan FP-5 in flight reveals conservative and functional design choices: a launch system with solid-fuel boosters replaced by jet propulsion usually a turbofan that maintains the cruise profile. The longitudinal strakes visible on the fuselage betrayan engineering philosophy focused on simplicity, robustness, and ease of production: outdated but highly practical solutions.
These choices are not random. The experience with the Neptune an anti-ship missile evolved into Long variants with larger fuel tanks and a longer fuselage has demonstratedthe limits of a retrofit approach: increasing range by adding fuel increases mass and size but does not address the underlying design constraints. Achieving significantly greater ranges, therefore, required a completely new design: precisely what the Flamingo offers.
With a declared theoretical range of up to approximately 3,000 km and the structural capacity to carry very heavy warheads (estimated at around 1,000 kilograms at Mach 0.72), the Flamingo occupies a very different strategic position from mid-range solutions likePeklo, Bars, or Palianytsia, which remain hybrids of circling munitions and cruise missiles.
The Tomahawk also uses a two-stage system (solid booster plus turbofan during cruise), but the family of these US missiles results from decades of development and integration of guidance systems (INS/GNSS, TERCOM, DSMAC) that deliver high precision and resistance to interference. Excluding nuclear warheads (which it can be armed with),the typical Tomahawk carries conventional warheads weighing a few hundred kilograms; if current estimates are accurate,the Flamingo would carry a larger payload. There is therefore a tactical complementarity between high-capacity national missiles and highly precise Western guided ones, which could operate synergistically for very effective combined strikes. It is also worth noting thatreverse engineering a complete Tomahawk could provide valuable insights. While transferring knowledge doesnt mean replicating the full industrial and logistical complexity of an advanced weapon, mechanical and electronic analysis, as far as legally and practically possible, might reveal details about mountings, tolerances, subassembly layouts, and turbofan integration solutions that could improve the reliability and efficiency of Ukrainian missiles.
In the operational theater,Russia has cruise missiles like the 9M729 family (Novator/Kalibr, in various versions), which, according to operational estimates, surpass officially declared limits and demonstrate a proven ability to evade Ukrainian defenses.
With hesitation from its allies (Germany has refused to supply Taurus rockets, while other countries, besides the US, are withholding available systems),self-reliance appears to be the only practical option for Kyiv to project power (and deterrence) over the long term. The Flamingo project has also attracted attention among civil society and the diaspora: in just a few days, private initiatives such as the Czech fundraiserA Gift for Putinhave raised significant funds (over $600,000) to contribute to the symbolic purchase of a rocket to be named DANA 1, in honor of pro-Ukraine activist Dana Drabova. This display of participation goes beyond the purely military aspect and highlights how, in the collective narrative, weapons and hope are intertwined.
一份送給普京的禮物
作者：Giorgio Provinciali
烏克蘭前線報道????????
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第聶伯（Dnipro）就在俄羅斯使用巡航導彈加強攻擊力度之際，戰斧導彈的交付又一次從烏克蘭的視野中消退，而這些導彈的存在正是美國退出軍控的原因之一。為應對緊迫的行動需求，基輔正優先推進國內項目，包括被稱為火烈鳥的FP-5以及低成本攔截器計劃，澤連斯基總統昨天討論了這些項目。
烏克蘭已宣布立即部署使用新型的火烈鳥和路塔導彈，以及到本月底具備每天生產600-800枚攔截無人機的工業能力，這些無人機成本約3000美元每枚。根據政府官員的說法，若投入更多資金，這些數字可能會翻倍。
（圖：FP-5火烈鳥圖片來源：一份送給普京的禮物）
觀察FP-5的飛行狀態，顯示其設計偏向保守且實用：發射係統的固體燃料助推器被噴氣推進所取代通常為渦扇風扇以維持巡航姿態。機身上的縱向翼條標誌著一種專注於簡潔、堅固性和易於生產的工程理念：雖然過時但非常實用的解決方案。
這些設計選擇並非隨機。海王星一種反艦導彈演變而來的長變體，燃料箱更大，機身更長的經驗表明了改造方法的局限性：增加燃料以延長射程，會增加質量和尺寸，但無法解決根本的設計限製。因此，要實現顯著更長的射程，就必須采用全新設計：正是火烈鳥所提供的。
（圖：戰斧導彈圖片來源：RTX）
火烈鳥的理論射程約為3000公裏，且具有攜帶非常重彈頭的結構能力（估計在0.72馬赫時約為1000公斤）。它的戰略地位與中程武器如佩克洛、巴爾斯或帕利揚蒂婭截然不同，這些仍然是巡航導彈與循環彈藥的混合體。
戰斧也采用兩級係統（固體助推器加巡航階段的渦扇風扇），但這些美國導彈家族是幾十年來開發和集成製導係統（INS/GNSS、TERCOM、DSMAC）的結果，具有高精度和抗幹擾能力。除了核彈頭（但它也可以裝載核彈頭），戰斧一般攜帶數百公斤的常規彈頭；如果目前的估計準確，火烈鳥可能攜帶更大的有效載荷。因此，高容量的國產導彈與高精度的西方製導導彈具有戰術互補性，二者協同作戰能實現非常高效的聯合打擊。同樣值得注意的是，完整的戰斧逆向工程可以提供有價值的見解。盡管知識轉讓並不意味著複製先進武器的全部工業和後勤技術複雜性，但在法律和實際允許的範圍內，通過機械和電子分析，有望揭示安裝方式、公差、子組件布局以及渦扇發動機集成解決方案的詳細信息，從而提升烏克蘭導彈的可靠性和效率。
（圖：2018年7月19日，俄羅斯國防部在其官方YouTube頻道公布的一段視頻截圖，顯示俄羅斯布列斯特尼克核動力巡航導彈從俄羅斯境內發射圖片來源：圖片來源：EPA俄羅斯國防部新聞處）
在戰場上，俄羅斯擁有9M729係列巡航導彈（諾瓦托爾/卡麗布爾係列的多個版本），據作戰估算，其射程已超出官方宣布的限製，並展示了躲避烏克蘭防禦的成熟能力。
由於盟國的猶豫不決（德國拒絕供應金牛座火箭，而除美國外其他國家正在扣留可用係統），自力更生成為基輔實現長期行動力（和威懾力）的唯一有效選項。火烈鳥項目也在民間社會和僑民中引起關注：在短短幾天內，捷克的籌款項目為普京獻禮等私人募集基金就籌集了超過60萬美元，用於象征性地購買一枚命名為DANA 1的導彈，以紀念支持烏克蘭的活動家達娜德拉博娃。這種參與超越了純粹的軍事意義，更凸顯了在集體敘事中，武器與希望緊密相連。
（圖：這是我為意大利報紙La Ragione所寫的專欄版權所有，Giorgio Provinciali）
