February 25 this year members of the Committee on International Relations, Defense and Security of the Senate of the Parliament headed by Dariga Nazarbayeva visited one of the flagships of the country's defense industry - a machine-building enterprise for the production of armored vehicles "Kazakhstan Paramount Engineering".
The senators got acquainted with the production of sophisticated modern technology "from an armored sheet", starting from the construction of the body and ending with the output of finished products.
The high technological capabilities of the enterprise were also demonstrated, including the work of the design bureau, thanks to which each manufactured machine can be adapted to the specific requirements of any customer in the shortest possible time.
The plant, opened on November 20, 2015 by the President of Kazakhstan, produces vehicles for the needs of the army and special units using the latest MRAP technology, capable of withstanding an explosion under the bottom with a force of up to 10 kg in TNT equivalent, with high ballistic protection and ready to repel ambush attacks.
Since the beginning of its work, the plant has established industrial production for customers of the armored wheeled vehicle (BKM) "Arlan" with the wheel arrangement "4x4" and the BKM "Alan" with the wheel arrangement "4x4". At the end of 2018, demonstration tests for the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Kazakhstan took place on the Barys 6x6 armored personnel carrier with the 6x6 wheel arrangement.
At the moment, factory tests have begun and will be followed by demonstration tests of the "Barys 8x8" armored personnel carrier with the "8x8" wheel arrangement, carrying a combat module of the domestic design "Aksar" armed with a 30 mm cannon, paired with a 7.62 machine gun, remote automatic robotic control.
The level of localization of the enterprise has reached 72%, which makes it possible to reduce the price for the domestic customer and release to the world market products that are superior in quality to competitors' products.
General Director of Kazakhstan Paramount Engineering LLP Erbol Salimov said that the company not only reduces the commercial value of its products with increasing requirements for domestic customers, but also expands its production and technological range to adequately represent Kazakhstan on the international defense market.
The senators also visited Kazakhstan Aselsan Engineering LLP. The company specializes in the production and sale of night and day vision devices, thermal imaging sights, reconnaissance devices, professional radio communications. The main customers of the enterprise are the Armed Forces of the Republic of Kazakhstan and other power structures. The total share of the local content of the manufactured products is about 58%. In 2017, export contracts to Turkey and Uzbekistan were carried out. In the future, work is underway to promote products to the CIS countries and far abroad.
The members of the Committee on International Relations, Defense and Security have already visited the enterprises of the defense industry in the North Kazakhstan, Mangistau, East Kazakhstan regions in order to get acquainted with the potential and problems of this area on the spot.
The event took place within the framework of the law "On the defense industry and state defense order" adopted by the Parliament and amendments to the legislation on the defense and aerospace industries, information security in the field of informatization. The documents are aimed at legislative support and increasing the efficiency of the process of forming, placing and fulfilling the state defense order, as well as developing the potential of the defense industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan.