The project to create the Freyja antiballistic shield is at the stage of integrating all components into a single system and conducting tests. Fire Point CEO and CTO Iryna Terekh stated this during a press conference at the DALO Industry Days arms exhibition in Denmark, UNN reports.
Right now, we have begun the most interesting part of Freyja’s development from an engineering perspective – the technical integration of the entire ecosystem together with the radars, the launcher, the data transmission channel, and the command center. But this is the most boring part from a journalist’s perspective, because, most likely, nothing spectacular or truly visible will happen in the near future
According to her, launches are conducted once or twice a week.
We learn something new during these launches, then change it in the software, then launch again, then collect data, then analyze the data – and that is what it looks like. In other words, this is a very large-scale integration project
The Fire Point CEO and CTO added that all participants in the antiballistic project are working on a Ukrainian base.
Since we are working with 13 different European companies that are, so to speak, the cream of the European defense industry, I understand the effort and dedication they are investing while working at such a speed and with such commitment. This means a lot to us. It means a lot to the project. And I think Europe has never before moved so quickly to address a challenge that it had also never had to address before
Background
The project to create a joint European antiballistic shield, FREYJA, officially began on July 13, when Ukraine and 9 other European countries signed the Anti-Ballistic Coalition declaration. At that time, 12 defense companies joined it, including HENSOLDT, Thales, Diehl Defence, Saab, Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace, Weibel, Leonardo, MBDA, Eurosam, Safran, and Destinus.
The Freyja project, which is intended to provide interception of Russian ballistic missiles, is being built on the basis of the FP-7.x interceptor missile developed by Fire Point; other system components are being provided by European defense companies.
As reported by UNN, according to Fire Point co-founder and chief designer Denys Shtilerman, the involvement of European governments, particularly the German government, has significantly accelerated the implementation of FREYJA. Provided that bureaucratic procedures in the partner countries move quickly, the first FP-7.X interceptor missiles could be ready by the end of 2026. Fire Point plans to carry out the first interception of a ballistic target by the Freyja system by the end of 2027.
At the beginning of August, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported that new partners were planning to join Freyja.