Why a Ukrainian cruise missile is flying with hobby drone hardware | Hacker News Reader

Why a Ukrainian cruise missile is flying with hobby drone hardware

newscientist.com

8 pointsstevenwoo3 comments

Just from the specs in second paragraph - did they just build a better and cheaper alternative to Tomahawk missiles?

Or did the UK (via Milanion Group subsidiaries)?

  - The Flamingo's claimed range is approximately twice the unclassified range of the Tomahawk Block V, allowing it to hit targets anywhere in the European part of Russia and as far as Novosibirsk, but it had not been shown to strike targets at this range as of June 2026.

  - The Flamingo claims a similar speed to its Western counterparts, 900 km/h, but does not have complex visual guidance systems; the primary means of navigation is by satellite navigation using a jamming-resistant, controlled reception pattern antenna layout.

  - Claimed accuracy is a CEP of 14 m (46 ft) in ideal conditions at any range.

  - The simplified design is intended to speed production.

  - The main drawbacks compared to the Tomahawk are a longer pre-launch preparation time of 20 to 40 minutes and a takeoff weight that is almost five times greater.

* FP-5 Flamingo: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FP-5_Flamingo

* BGM-109 Tomahawk Land Attack Missile: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomahawk_missile

* https://milaniongroup.com/company/

"better" is a subjective metric; it's definitely cheaper and ballpark to a Tomahawk in other ways although lacking visual guidance, etc.

Good points - it does point a way for other actors like Iran or Russia under sanctions though they could be doing it already since those two are pretty close lipped and Ukraine is relatively open about its methods by comparison.

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