...once Ukraine can include terrain tracking, these Flamingo cruise missiles will be devastating.....my guess is that terrain tracking will double or triple the # that are not shot down.....so although they are quite easy to shoot down at elevations above 110M, they will be much more difficult at 40M.......the end result will be perhaps 30% hit their target.......they have been producing 3 per day for several months now.....probably have at least 100 now ....so even 30 hits out of 100 launches would be devastating on highly important targets (refineries / electrical substations / power plants / ammo dumps / etc).....Ukraine should not agree to any settlement until Russia experiences multiple (3-4) Flamingo attacks every week in the depths of winter.......let's see how they deal with it
......note Ukraine shoots down perhaps 75% of cruise missiles now by a combination of means....by the time the Russkies put the means in place to even attempt the same, it will be way too late
......note that US tomahawks with terrain tracking hit an estimated 90+% of the time in Iran despite Russian S-300 SAMS
....all my opinion of course
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Yes, the ability of the Ukrainian-made FP-5 "Flamingo" cruise missile to have a programmable flight path would allow for the use of circuitous routes to evade SAM (Surface-to-Air Missile) locations and attack targets from unusual, less-defended directions.
Here's a breakdown of why this is a key capability:
?? Evasion Strategy with Programmable Paths- Avoidance of Known SAM Sites: Like most modern cruise missiles (such as the US Tomahawk or the Franco-British Storm Shadow), the Flamingo uses a guidance system (GPS/GNSS with INS backup) that allows for a complex, pre-programmed route with multiple waypoints. Mission planners can use intelligence on the location of enemy SAM batteries and air defense radar coverage to plot a path that detours around these known "kill zones."
- Low-Altitude Flight and Terrain-Hugging: Cruise missiles are designed to fly at very low altitudes (sometimes as low as 30-50 meters) to exploit the Earth's curvature and terrain. This allows them to hide in ground clutter and fly below the radar horizon of most ground-based air defense systems, shortening the detection and engagement time. The Flamingo missile is noted to be intended for such a low-altitude flight profile once sufficient terrain maps are available.
- Unusual Attack Vectors: By using circuitous routes, the missiles can approach a target from an unexpected direction, which helps to bypass layered air defenses that are often oriented to protect key assets from the most direct or anticipated lines of approach. This can overwhelm air defenses that are not omnidirectional.
- Saturation (Combined Attacks): A programmable path also allows for the launch of multiple missiles or drones, each taking a different, long, winding path to arrive at the target area simultaneously. This tactic, known as saturation, can overload an air defense system's capacity to track and engage all incoming threats at once, increasing the chance of a missile slipping through.
?? Key Features of the Flamingo Missile- Guidance System: It uses GPS/GNSS satellite navigation with an Inertial Navigation System (INS) backup. This combination is what enables the high-precision, complex flight path programming.
- Range: The Flamingo has a long operational range, reportedly up to 3,000 km (1,900 miles). This extended range is crucial, as a circuitous, non-direct path requires significantly more fuel and range than a straight-line flight.
In summary, the ability to program a circuitous path is a fundamental characteristic of its design as a long-range cruise missile, and it is almost certainly a core strategy for its successful deployment against deep targets protected by Russian air defense networks.
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