Chief Designer of Fire Point: bureaucratic pressure prevents Europe from producing cheaper and more effective weapons

The main problem in Europe is over-bureaucratization, which prevents accelerating the production of effective and cheaper weapons. This was stated during a briefing at the international exhibition Eurosatory-2026 in Paris by the co-founder and chief designer of the Ukrainian company Fire Point, Denys Shtilerman, reports UNN.

Bureaucratic pressure is the main problem in Europe. It is good that Europe has begun to rethink its defense strategy – in March 2025, the White Paper ("White Paper on European Defense – Readiness 2030" - ed.) was published, and in October 2025, ReArm 2030. We see that Europe understands: weapons are needed that work not only on paper, but on the battlefield. But bureaucratic pressure prevents the production of cheap and effective weapons. For example, a cruise missile that our company created in nine months took us another two months to codify in Ukraine. In Europe, this would take at least five years. All this time, you need to maintain a team of engineers, a team of employees – and also lawyers and managers who fill out useless paperwork 

He is convinced that reducing bureaucracy will allow European countries to move faster and create weapons that will demonstrate higher efficiency but cost less.

If bureaucratic pressure is reduced, weapons immediately become cheaper and more effective because the market opens up and more companies come in. By the way, the principle of "price = cost plus margin," which is applied in the US, immediately forces companies to inflate costs – hire more people, pay higher salaries, increase the price. Reducing bureaucratic pressure will allow not to increase the military budget so much 

As an example of an approach where reducing bureaucratic pressure demonstrates effectiveness, he cited Fire Point's own products: Flamingo costs $600,000 – it flies, launches from the ground, range 3000 km, payload over one ton; the FP-1 drone, carrying 60 kg for 500 km – costs $55,000.

Another problem that Shtilerman sees is that European countries are not learning the lessons that Ukrainians have gone through in the war with russia.

Countries that commit evil – russia, North Korea, Iran, China – exchange experience during the war. Unfortunately, Western countries are not learning the lessons from the Ukrainian war. We see this in the example of the Persian Gulf: from Ukraine's point of view, if there were high-speed internet on Iranian territory – with the available Ukrainian capabilities, it would be possible to immediately establish a kill zone 200 miles from the coast. Why this is not happening – I have no answer. For our army, this is now elementary 

Solving these two problems, in his opinion, is now the most important thing for Europeans.

That's it. Two problems: learn the lessons of the Ukrainian war and reduce bureaucratic pressure 

Director of the Jacques Delors Institute, Sylvie Matelli, outlined three main lessons that Europe is learning from the example of the war in Ukraine: the possibility of an armed conflict in Europe; the inadequacy of weapons stocks and industrial capacities; excessive dependence on the US in the security sphere.

The path to the ability not just to support Ukraine, but to defend itself – possibly without the US – is very, very long and requires enormous funds. You know this better than us because you live in a state of war. Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, in my opinion, we have learned three lessons. First – the possibility of a high-intensity armed conflict in Europe, which we had not thought about for decades. Second – the inadequacy of stocks, industrial capacities, and supply chains. Third – the fragility of European security due to excessive dependence on the US 

Let us recall

CEO and CTO of Fire Point, Iryna Terekh, said that Flamingo – the certification process took five weeks, including all tests.

The FP-5 "Flamingo" is a modern ground-based system UAV/cruise missile manufactured by the Ukrainian company Fire Point.

The Flamingo is designed to deliver a given combat payload of up to 1150 kg to engage ground targets with fixed topographic coordinates at a range of up to 3000 km, both day and night. The missile is capable of hitting a target even under active electronic countermeasures.

Fire Point emphasizes that the FP-5 is distinguished by its ease of use and low cost. It is the largest system of its class, but it remains simple to produce and launch. It does not require expensive launch platforms – its launchers are reusable, making deployment more economical.

Open sources indicated that the missile is built on the basis of AI-25 or AI-25TL engines, however, back in March 2026, the co-founder and chief designer of Fire Point, Denys Shtilerman, stated that the company is completing the development of its own engine, which will be manufactured at the company's production facilities.