Türkiye and Kazakhstan reinforce their defense cooperation with partnerships

Türkiye contributes to meeting the needs of friendly and allied countries in this field with the achievements it has made in the defense industry.

The defense industry approach towards the Turkish Republics is not based solely on selling products. Permanent collaborations are implemented with elements such as local production, technology sharing, maintenance-repair capability and long-term corporate cooperation.

A series of concrete steps have been taken in the defense industry of Kazakhstan, one of these countries, dating back many years.

The leading companies of the Turkish defense industry, ASELSAN, TAI and Otokar, have investments and important projects in Kazakhstan.

One of the most concrete examples of Türkiye's defense industry investments in Kazakhstan is the Kazakhstan Aselsan Engineering (KAE) partnership established between ASELSAN and Kazakhstan's state defense industry company, Kazakhstan Engineering.

KAE produces day and night vision systems, thermal imaging sights, electro-optical reconnaissance and surveillance systems, remote-controlled weapon systems, professional radio and communication systems, electronic card assembly and infrared lenses.

With this partnership, we go beyond selling ready-made defense products from Türkiye and contribute to the development of production infrastructure, technical expertise and local industrial capabilities in Kazakhstan.

While Kazakhstan meets some of its defense needs with local production and reduces foreign dependency, Türkiye creates a permanent production partnership in the local market and has the opportunity to access regional markets through Kazakhstan's industrial infrastructure.

ANKA's new home, Kazakhstan

Another important defense industry cooperation between the two countries is being implemented for unmanned aerial vehicles.

Kazakhstan, which has strengthened its Air Force with ANKA unmanned aerial vehicles, is preparing to become the new production address of these vehicles abroad.

A memorandum was signed between Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) and Kazakhstan Engineering regarding the production, maintenance and repair of ANKA unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) in Kazakhstan. Lastly in this process, the Agreement on the Establishment of a Joint Venture for the Production and Maintenance of ANKA Unmanned Aerial Vehicles was implemented in May.

In order to support the local production target, a partnership was established between Civil Aircraft Repair Factory No. 406 and TAI under the name TA-406.

The parties continue their work within the scope of joint production. Mutual field visits were made and discussions on feasibility continue.

At the end of this process, Kazakhstan will be the first country where ANKA UAVs will be produced outside Türkiye.

Partnership for Turkish armored vehicles

Over time, the presence of Otokar, one of the leading land vehicle manufacturers of the Turkish defense industry, in Kazakhstan has ceased to consist solely of armored vehicle sales and exports.

Otokar, which has made its presence permanent with the Otokar Central Asia company, has positioned Kazakhstan as the center for its activities in the Central Asian market.

Vehicles such as COBRA II 4X4, ARMA 6X6, ARMA 8X8 and TULPAR successfully completed the tests in Kazakhstan. It was stated that local production could be carried out with names such as AYBAR and TAYMAS. AYBAR 4X4 vehicles are currently actively used in Kazakhstan.

Otokar's goal of creating a permanent structure in Kazakhstan through local production, technology transfer and industrial cooperation has been moved to concrete production activities by 2025.

The most important leg of this structuring includes the vehicles developed based on the platforms and production technology produced by Otokar at the armored vehicle production facility in Astana belonging to the Kazakhstan Besqaru Manufacturing (BKM) company.

President of Kazakhstan Kasım Cömert Tokayev visited the BESQARU facility at the end of last year and examined the production lines, assembly stages, technical processes and tools.

It is also aimed to export the vehicles produced at the facility to third countries.