Strip out this one component and Russia’s drones fly blind. Ukraine found factory where it is made
On 10 June, Ukrainian FP-5 "Flamingo" missiles struck the VNIIR "Progress" plant in Cheboksary, Russia. The factory produces satellite navigation antennas essential for Russian Shahed drones, KABs (precision-glide bombs), jet drones, Iskanders, and Orlans, advisor to the Defense Minister Serhii "Flash" Beskrestnov says.
Without these antennas, Russian precision weapons lose substantial accuracy against Ukrainian targets.
Cheboksary is over 1,400 km from the Ukrainian border. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed the strike. Social media photos suggest one of the factory buildings was practically completely destroyed, per ArmyInform.
"Production for murder and terror"
Progress manufactures satellite navigation systems without which Shaheds don't fly accurately, KABs and jet drones don't hit their targets, Iskanders can lose precision, and Orlans navigate poorly, Beskrestnov explains.
"Probably many are familiar with the CRPA antenna 'Kometa', which this plant produces. The enterprise does not produce military products for the defense segment. It produces products for murders and terror," Beskrestnov said.
What CRPA antennas do, and why they matter
Controlled reception pattern antenna (CRPA) systems are anti-jamming receivers. They allow precision-guided weapons to maintain satellite navigation lock in electronic-warfare environments. Komea CRPA performs this function by filtering out interference and false GPS/GLONASS signals generated by Ukrainian electronic warfare systems, per United24 Media.
Kometa-M antennas with up to 16 elements have been found in Iskander-K cruise missiles, Shahed-type drones, and other Russian long-range weapons, per Defense Express.
Ukraine has developed its own electronic warfare systems to counter these Russian CRPAs, including the Lima-Quant system, which can suppress Russian Kometa CRPAs at distances of up to 50 km, Ukraine Today reports.
The Kometa antenna is part of a continuing EW-counter-EW arms race, and striking the manufacturer of these antennas degrades the precision capability across the entire Russian strike-weapons portfolio.
FP-5 Flamingo and 1,400 km strike envelope
The FP-5 "Flamingo" is a Ukrainian-made cruise missile that has become a primary weapon in Ukraine's expanding deep-strike envelope. The strike on the Progress plant in Cheboksary, approximately 1,400 km from the Ukrainian border, represents one of the deepest successful Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory.
This demonstrates that the Russian rear-area defense industry is no longer geographically insulated from Ukrainian operations. It was the second strike on the Progress plant in under a week, marking a deliberate Ukrainian sustained operation against this specific supply node.
