Denis Leonidovich Shtilerman is a Ukrainian businessman, chief designer, and co-owner of the Ukrainian company Fire Point.
Place of Birth, Education
He was born on January 1, 1974, in Odesa, but his family moved to Kyiv almost immediately afterward.
His father was a scientist and worked at a research institute in Kyiv, where he was involved in the development and design of turbines. His mother worked as an engineer.
He attended a specialized physics and mathematics class at School No. 79. After graduating from high school in 1991, he moved to Moscow and enrolled at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) to study cosmology.
Career
After graduating from MIPT, Stilerman remained in Russia, although he also ran a business in Ukraine at the same time. As he explained, he had a large investment company in Kyiv, and he tried his hand at various fields—from software development to the investment business.
One of his IT projects was the online game Starquake. He launched it together with his classmates. The unique feature was its unconventional monetization model—they tried to bring the game from the online world into real life. To promote the project, they even commissioned a book from author Serhiy Lukyanenko, who was very popular in Russia at the time.
In one of his interviews, Stilerman also mentioned that he had developed a concept for an automated control system at the request of the Russian Ministry of Defense. According to him, this took place in early 2007—at that time, he prepared the concept itself and a plan for research and development work. He specifically emphasized, however, that the project was never implemented.
After the 2008 war between Russia and Georgia, Stilerman, by his own account, began to distance himself from cooperation with Russian government agencies.
In the same issue, he recounted that he had spent half a year in a detention center run by the Federal Security Service (FSB). The reason for this was allegedly a statement made by his ex-wife and his “active participation in the Maidan.”
The businessman himself said that during the Revolution of Dignity, he was on the Maidan, helping however he could—with food and medicine—and after the war began, he also joined the effort to support the ATO.
The case against him was later dismissed due to lack of evidence of a crime. After his release, he left Russia and abandoned his business there.
In recent years, Stilerman has become a prominent figure in the Ukrainian defense industry. Since 2022, he has been a co-owner and chief designer at Fire Point.
According to him, he built the company with a focus on maximum automation and minimal manual labor. Fire Point now has more than 50 facilities throughout Ukraine, and the company is also building a plant in Denmark.
The company specializes in long-range drones and cruise missiles. Among its developments is the FP-5 “Flamingo” model.
According to Stilerman, Fire Point has already grown into a large holding company, and its products account for a significant portion of long-range strikes against Russian territory.
Separately, the company is participating in the international Freya project. This is a consortium of European companies that aims to develop an autonomous ballistic missile interception system by 2027. Stilerman proposed using Fire Point launches to test radars and, in the long term, to build a joint European defense system.
