The Progress Rocket and Space Center in the Russian city of Samara, which Ukraine attacked with Flamingo missiles, manufactures launch vehicles and satellites and holds licenses to work with military equipment, aviation technology, nuclear materials and cryptographic systems.
The facility’s products and capabilities were detailed by the BBC Russian Service, citing the center’s website and documents from Russia’s Ministry of Industry and Trade.
The facility manufactures Soyuz-2, Soyuz-2.1V and Soyuz-5 launch vehicles. According to the center, it supports around 20 Soyuz-2 launches annually from the Baikonur, Plesetsk and Vostochny cosmodromes.
Progress also produces Resurs-P spacecraft designed to observe the Earth’s surface. The small Aist-2D satellite performs similar functions, while another spacecraft, Aist, is used to train specialists for Russia’s rocket and space industry.
Documents from the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade show that the company holds indefinite licenses to service weapons and military equipment and to develop, manufacture, test and repair aviation equipment.
Russia’s Rosatom corporation granted the center a license to use nuclear materials and radioactive substances in work involving atomic energy for defense purposes. The Federal Security Service’s office in the Samara region also authorized the company to develop, manufacture and distribute encryption tools and information and telecommunications systems.
Overall, the center has developed and commissioned more than 12 modifications of medium-class launch vehicles and 29 types of spacecraft for various purposes. Russia’s Industry and Trade Ministry lists SpaceX, Boeing and Arianespace among its international competitors.
On the night of August 15, the Ukrainian Defense Forces carried out a missile strike on Samara’s industrial zone. A major fire broke out at the facility following the explosions. Russian authorities confirmed damage to industrial infrastructure and reported injuries but initially did not identify the site that had been hit.
President Volodymyr Zelensky later confirmed that Flamingo missiles had struck the Progress center. According to him, the facility is one of Roscosmos’s key enterprises and was involved, among other things, in producing electronics.
The target is located approximately 900 kilometers from the Ukrainian border. Ukrainian defense company Fire Point also confirmed that FP-5 Flamingo cruise missiles were used in the attack.
The full extent of the damage remains unknown. Footage published by eyewitnesses showed a fire in one of the production buildings, but the consequences of the strike are likely to become clearer after satellite images emerge.
