Austrian Expert: Europe Should Help Ukraine Develop Ballistic Missile Production

(MENAFN- UkrinForm) This was stated in an interview with Ukrinform by Austrian military expert and lecturer at the Austrian National Defense Academy Gustav Gressel.

“The most important thing for Ukraine is to have reliable ammunition for strikes deep into Russia. Ballistic missiles have the best chance of breaking through Russian air defense. In fact, it would be advisable to help Ukraine develop its own ballistic capabilities and produce such missiles on a massive scale,” Gressel emphasized.

He added that there is a serious shortage of such capabilities in Europe.

“In Europe, only Turkey actually produces short-range ballistic missiles, and the UK has only just started its own project. There is a significant shortage of capabilities here. It would be worth closing this gap together with Ukraine and, after the war, producing such missiles in Europe as well, as a deterrent and in response to the Iskander missiles,” the expert noted.

According to Gressel, Ukrainian Flamingo cruise missiles have their advantages and disadvantages.

“The advantage is their long range and powerful warhead. The problem is that they are very large and heavy. This means that they have to fly relatively high and are therefore vulnerable to air defense or fighter patrols, such as the MiG-31 or Su-35,” he said.

At the same time, the analyst noted that there is little photographic evidence of actual hits:“Some of the images show that the Flamingo apparently did not hit its target accurately.”

According to him, targets outside cities are often attacked, and there is obviously a political motive for this: so that Putin cannot tell Trump that Ukrainians are bombing cities.

In his opinion, European countries could help Ukraine improve the accuracy of the Flamingo.

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“After all, many research institutes and defense enterprises are located in cities, and very high accuracy is required to hit such targets,” Gressel emphasized.

As reported by Ukrinform, on the night of February 21, units of the Rocket Forces and Artillery of the Armed Forces of Ukraine struck the plant in Votkinsk, which produces Iskander and Oreshnik ballistic missiles, with FP-5 Flamingo cruise missiles.

Photo: Jens Oellermann / Hubert Burda Media

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