Turkey’s Aselsan open defense plant in Kazakhstan

ASTANA

Aselsan and a Kazakh company have opened a defense plant. AA photo

Aselsan, a top military electronics company and Turkey’s largest defense firm, has opened a plant costing $44 million in Kazakhstan, along with Kazakhstan Engineering.

The new plant will meet the needs of Kazakhstan’s defense industry by producing nine electro-optical products, including thermal cameras and field glasses. Some 50 percent of the new factory is owned by Kazakhstan Engineering, 49 percent by Aselsan and 1 percent by Turkey’s Undersecretary of Defense Industries.

“Our factory will produce goods not only for Kazakhstan, but also for the neighboring ex-Soviet republics,” said Aselsan Deputy General Manager Özcan Kahramangil. He noted that Aselsan had made approximately $34 million worth of sales up to now. “We are aiming for our new factory to reach $1 billion worth of exports to neighboring countries over the next decade,” he said.

The factory is planned to be widened upon growing demand in the future. It will also undertake a number of modernization drives for Kazakhstan’s T72 tanks, helicopters and armored vehicles.