The partnership between Kazakhstani and Turkish manufacturers will attempt to open production, and facilitate knowledge and technology transfer, enabling Kazakhstan to independently manufacture UAVs in the future.
The assembly of the Turkish-designed Anka medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) UAV has been scheduled to begin in Kazakhstan in 2024, approximately two years after Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) and Kazakhstan Engineering signed an MoU.
TAI had first promoted its products to Kazakhstan in 2018, with the central Asian country announcing its intentions to acquire three UAVs in 2021. In May 2022, TAI and Kazakhstan Engineering announced an MoU for the joint production of the three-ordered Anka drones.
The deal, which also included a maintenance centre, would make Kazakhstan home to the first Anka-production base outside of Turkey.
Although Anka was designed to meet the Turkish Armed Forces’ requirements, it has been exported to several foreign customers, including Saudi Arabia and Tunisia. As Shephard recently reported, Indonesia had become the eighth customer for the Anka, procuring a dozen UAVs.