As early as the end of 2027, Ukrainian long-range weapons and UAV manufacturer Fire Point plans to launch solid rocket fuel production at its own plant in Denmark. As Fire Point CEO and CTO Iryna Terekh explained, she did not expect such an opportunity to arise and be implemented in Europe within such a short timeframe, reports UNN.
When the idea of building the plant emerged, Fire Point was operating under the so-called "Danish model" – the Danish government directly financed the purchase of strike drones for the Ukrainian army. It was at that time that the Danish side became interested in developing closer cooperation.
"The Danish military attaché once asked whether we had plans for expansion and said that the Danish government was very interested in Ukrainian companies entering Denmark and working here. He asked what the Danish government could do to attract Ukrainian companies. I honestly told him then that it was very complicated and expensive and, from a bureaucratic point of view, pointless," Iryna Terekh said during a press tour of the construction site.
She was convinced that the European bureaucratic machine would not allow the plan to build the plant to be implemented in less than 5–10 years.
"Not believing in this idea, I said that we had a chemical plant, but I would never believe that Europe – ecological, safe and bureaucratic – would ever agree to build a plant in the country within a realistic timeline, not in 5–10 years, and, moreover, send all the plant's products to Ukraine during martial law," the company's CEO explained.
According to Terekh, she was very surprised that the Danish authorities ultimately agreed to cooperate and accelerated the process – after all, just three weeks later they were already viewing sites for the construction.
"Denmark is probably one of the first countries to understand the threat in the Ukrainian sense. Behind my back there is not simply an excavation, but, it seems to me, certain mental changes that have taken place in Europe, embodied in a concrete result rather than merely in conversations and conferences. I am very grateful for this and convinced that changes can be achieved only by setting one's own example," Terekh explained.
Iryna Terekh also added that Fire Point is already producing rocket fuel in Ukraine.
"But when it came to scaling up production, given the need for predictable capacity located in a safe place, we accepted Denmark's very generous invitation to locate such a plant here," she explained.
Iryna Terekh said that construction would be carried out in several phases, and the total area of the plant would exceed 120,000 sq. m. Additional security infrastructure would also be built around the plant.
According to her, because the relevant expertise had not existed in Europe for a long time, some regulatory requirements were outdated.
"This will be a future shaft complex and a production complex for casting FP-7 and FP-7.x rockets and boosters for Flamingo," Iryna Terekh noted.
She added that the Russians were targeting similar plants in Ukraine in order to destroy them, which is why Denmark offered a secure site to accommodate Fire Point's production capabilities, which would meet the solid rocket fuel needs of both Ukraine and Europe.
"Restoring this capability on the European continent is extremely important. This is another path toward our technological independence," Iryna Terekh noted.