Estonian startup Frankenburg Technologies will test an in-development anti-aircraft missile in Ukraine next year.
The first batches of the Frankenburg Mark 1 missile are expected to arrive in the beleaguered country in the next few months.
Should the tests be successful and Ukraine opts for the weapon, production facilities could be established in the country, Frankenburg CEO Kusti Salm explained.
“Our goal is to help Ukraine win this war. To achieve that, we are offering a prototype of a new, affordable missile for downing airborne targets, particularly UAVs,” Salm said.
Preliminary discussion to finance the missile’s production has also begun.
Initial production is expected to be a few dozen per week and expected to scale up to hundreds per week from the third quarter.
AI-Based Counter-Drone Missile
Primarily a counter-drone missile, the Frankenburg can intercept targets at an altitude of 2 kilometers (1.24 miles), similar to what the Shahed-131 (Russian version Geran-1) and Shahed-136 (Geran-2) drones typically fly at.
The Estonian defense startup intends to develop cost-effective missiles featuring a targeting system based on an integrated artificial intelligence-powered situational awareness program.
Extensive use of cheap drones in the Ukraine war has necessitated the development of a corresponding cost-effective counter-drone technology.
Frankenburg believes that the missile’s relevance will remain — even after a ceasefire is achieved in Ukraine.
“A new and much bigger war is expected in Europe,” Bloomberg quoted Salm as saying.