Ukraine’s Fire Point giant arms maker says it has launched two satellites this year and is preparing to send “dozens” more into orbit in 2027, marking a major expansion beyond battlefield weapons into space-based capabilities.
Denys Shtilierman, co-founder and chief designer at the company, said the satellite program is part of a broader push to reduce Ukraine’s dependence on US and Western technology providers while building domestic strategic systems.
“The idea behind our weapons is that we sell not only weapons and not only security, but independence in security,” he told the Financial Times.
Shtilierman did not disclose technical specifications of the satellites, but said they are intended to support broader defense needs, including communications, coordination, and battlefield awareness as Ukraine expands its drone and missile operations.
Ukraine’s dependence on Western partners for intelligence access became particularly evident in March 2025, when the Trump White House paused military aid, intelligence support, and vital weapons shipments to Ukraine following US President Donald Trump’s Oval Office clash with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Feb. 28.
Trump’s envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, said he believed the move was intended to pressure Ukraine into negotiations. The pause particularly affected intelligence required for strikes inside Russian territory.
Fire Point, founded after Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, has rapidly grown into one of Ukraine’s leading defense firms, producing long-range drones and cruise missiles used in strikes deep inside Russian territory.
The company also says it is working on a “pan-European air-defence shield,” designed to reduce reliance on individual foreign systems and create a more integrated European security network.
Shtilierman said European governments and defense companies are increasingly interested in Ukrainian systems, citing their lower cost and combat experience compared with Western alternatives.
Fire Point says its satellite push is tightly linked to its wider defense ecosystem, which integrates drones, missiles, and autonomous targeting systems into a unified battlefield network.
The company has also expanded rapidly across Ukraine, scaling production and decentralising facilities to reduce vulnerability to Russian strikes while increasing output of unmanned systems used in frontline operations.