President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky discussed the situation on the front line and Ukraine's needs to protect people from Russian attacks with French President Emmanuel Macron, and also awarded him the Order of Liberty, reports UNN.
As always, we closely coordinate positions with Emmanuel. A productive meeting – we discussed priorities ahead of the meeting of the Anti-Ballistic Coalition and the Coalition of the Willing, as well as bilateral cooperation. The relations between our countries have reached a truly strategic level, largely thanks to the personal efforts of President Macron. Today I thanked Emmanuel for his help and support over these years and awarded the President, a true friend of Ukraine, the Order of Liberty
The leaders spoke in detail about the situation on the front line and Ukraine's needs to protect people from Russian attacks.
It is important to strengthen Ukraine, bolster our air defense, and accelerate our European anti-ballistic capabilities. France has exactly the capabilities and strong technologies needed to help. We will work on this together with our allies. Thank you, France, thank you, Emmanuel!
Recall
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky will be on an official visit to Paris today, July 13, where a meeting of the "coalition of the willing" is expected. He also announced that a meeting of the "anti-ballistic coalition" will take place, dedicated to the creation of the European anti-ballistic shield FREYJA, initiated by Ukraine.
As the President noted, he tasked Ukrainian arms manufacturers with creating a cheaper analog of the Patriot that could be mass-produced.
Currently, Ukrainian arms manufacturer Fire Point has created the FP-7.x interceptor missile, which has already been tested at maximum accelerations and maneuvers it can perform to intercept ballistic targets. The cost of this missile is about $700,000 per unit, compared to $3.8 million for one American missile for the Patriot.
The Pan-European anti-ballistic shield Freyja was conceived from the start as one that would unite European partners. As stated by co-founder and chief designer of Fire Point, Denys Shtilerman, the key difference of the Freyja project is its independence from external control. He explained that modern Western air defense systems often operate in a closed architecture format, where the supplier country or manufacturer effectively retains control over critical system elements. The project's architecture is expected to be implemented in such a way that new partner countries can easily join it.
Representatives from various European countries have already expressed interest in jointly implementing such a large-scale concept. In particular, agreements have already been officially signed between the defense ministers of Ukraine and Germany. As noted by Shtilerman, these agreements open the way to obtaining technical documentation for various components of the future anti-ballistic system.
In addition, Fire Point recently signed an agreement with German radar manufacturer Hensoldt. From open sources, it is also known that in addition to German long-range detection radars, the system will likely also include illumination and guidance radars such as the Weibel GFTR-2100/48 or Leonardo KRONOS Land. The command post is expected to be based on the Norwegian Kongsberg Fire Distribution Center system. One of the key features of the system will be its open architecture and the use of Network Access Nodes modules, which will allow the integration of additional solutions and components.
Data exchange between all elements of the complex will be carried out via the tactical Link 16 channel, standardized according to STANAG 5516. This protocol is intended to ensure the integration of Freyja into the existing air defense system of Ukraine and other European countries.