Kazakhstan’s Deputy Defense Minister Shaykh-Khasan Zhazykbayev has called on foreign military agencies to cooperate with his country in developing its military aviation, including the drone industry.
He made the remarks at a briefing held for foreign military diplomats at the Kazakh Defense Ministry’s National Military and Patriotic Centre on December 9, according to the Kazakh government’s website, Gov.kz.
The deputy minister said that in 2025, Kazakhstan’s
“efforts will be focused on developing the potential of its military transport and unmanned aircraft industry, and training Special Operations Forces, and electronic warfare, air defense and cyber security units.”
“We look forward to constructive and mutually beneficial cooperation with your countries’ defense agencies in implementing these cooperation areas,” Zhazykbayev added.
He stressed that military and technical cooperation in equipping the Kazakh army with modern weapons and military hardware would continue.
On November 25, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev ordered Defense Minister Ruslan Zhaksylykov to step up the security and safety of all military and civilian facilities across Kazakhstan, intensify cooperation with domestic defense enterprises, develop territorial defense, Special Operations Forces, and strengthen social and legal work.
In early October, Tokayev also ordered a newly-appointed deputy defense minister, Dauren Kosanov, to modernize his country’s air defense forces.
Kazakhstan is actively developing the production of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) with the involvement of foreign partners. One of the significant projects is the joint production of Anka drones with Turkey.
Kazakhstan’s Defense Ministry announced on November 11 that it would send a delegation of military specialists to Turkey to study drone production at the Baykar factory and participate in demonstration flights of Bayraktar TB3, Bayraktar Kalkan unmanned aircraft, and loitering Mosquito-U munition there.
The statement was issued following the Kazakh Defense Ministry’s participation in the fourth SAHA EXPO International Defence, Aerospace and Space Industry Fair held at the Istanbul Expo Center between October 22–26, 2024.
Baykar is a private Turkish company that produces drones, communications systems, and artificial intelligence devices. After the Kazakh Defense Ministry’s talks, the Baykar company said that localizing drone production in Kazakhstan and providing training and technical support would be possible.
In late October, the Kazakh defense minister and the head of the Turkish company Baykar Defense, Haluk Bayraktar, reached an agreement to launch the production of drones in the Central Asian country. The minister also held talks with Turkish Minister of National Defence Yasar Guler and the head of the Defense Industry Agency, Haluk Gorgun, as well as with UAE Minister of State for Defense Mohamed Mubarak Fadhel Al Mazrouei.
The chairman of the Board of the National Company Kazakhstan Engineering joint-stock company, Temirzhan Abdrakhmanov, said in May that “one of the best” Turkish unmanned aerial vehicles will be produced in his country.
A line for the assembly and maintenance of ANKA unmanned combat aerial vehicles will be organized in Kazakhstan on the basis of the subsidiary company Kazakhstan Engineering. This would be the first such production outside Türkiye.
In May, Kazakhstan Engineering JSC and Turkish Aerospace (TUSAS) signed a memorandum on military-technical cooperation.
“Within the framework of the agreement, long-term cooperation is planned in the field of joint production of UAVs, as well as the transfer of technologies and training of personnel for the maintenance and repair of UAVs for the Armed Forces of the Republic of Kazakhstan,”
according to the Kazakh defense ministry.
In addition to Turkey, Kazakhstan cooperates with China and South Korea on drones. In August 2023, Kazakhstan’s Petropavlovsk Heavy Engineering Plant launched local production of six different drones that can be used for military and civic purposes, using components from China.
In November 2023, the Kazakh defense minister revealed plans to co-produce combat drones together with South Korea in Kazakhstan. In April 2024, Astana hosted the “2024 Kazakhstan-Korea Drone Roadshow,” which included a seminar on the development of UAVs and the creation of the Kazakhstan-Korea Drone Competence Development Academy.
Overall, the country’s fleet of drones currently consists of Russian Orlan-10, Turkish Anka, Israeli Skylar I-LEX, Chinese Wing Loong 1, and US RQ-11 Raven drones. In the annual rating of countries based on their level of military power, Global Firepower-2024, Kazakhstan was placed 58th out of 145. Kazakhstan’s armed forces are recognized as being the strongest in Central Asia.
Photo: Oryx
Source: Caspian News