Kazakhstan is expected to shortly sign an agreement with Israel’s Elbit Systems to undertake assembly of Skylark and Hermes unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the Central Asian country.A representative of Kazakhstan’s state-owned defence equipment manufacturer Kazakhstan Engineering, Zhanty Mamashev, told journalists in the Kazakh capital of Almaty on 16 September that the company was in negotiations for the supply of equipment and obtaining a licence to establish a UAV assembly line in the country.
Initial plans will see the facility build five to ten UAVs per year, with the country looking to increase this figure to 20 vehicles.
Mamashev also added that the assembly and maintenance of systems that are “already in service” is planned to begin in 2017. However, this comment did not indicate whether the country was already operating Elbit Systems UAVs, or if this covered a broader beginning of UAV maintenance operations. Kazakhstan is believed to operate Russian-made Irkut-10 UAVs.
Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Defence confirmed that it was in talks with an Israeli company in August on the procurement of UAVs. The two governments are also looking to collaborate on a range of other technologies, including avionics, radars, missiles, and aircraft defensive systems.
Kazakh officials were also in discussions with representatives from Chinese state-owned company Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) in mid-August on the potential establishment of a maintenance and service centre for AVIC aircraft in Kazakhstan. It was revealed in June this year that Kazakhstan had acquired two Chengdu Aircraft Industry (Group) Company (CAC) Wing-Loong unmanned combat aerial vehicles.
Source: IHS Jane’s 360