Kazakhstan To Produce Armed Helicopters

Eurocopter

The EC 645 T2

Kazakhstan is set to expand its production of military helicopters, with the ambition of becoming "one of the world flagships in the production of light attack helicopters," the state defense company Kazakhstan Engineering has announced. The Kazakhs signed a memorandum of cooperation with European defense giant Eurocopter (a division of EADS) to build the EC 645 T2, an armed version of the EC 145 that is already being built in Kazakhstan. From a press release from Kazakhstan Engineering, the state defense company:

According to the document [signed by Kazakhstan Engineering President Bolat Smagulov and Eurocopter Senior Vice President Olivier Lambert] the Joint Stock Company Eurocopter Kazakhstan Engineering, the only manufacturer of the EC 145 in the CIS, will assemble and service military helicopters EC 645 T2.

The agreements ... will allow the joint enterprise to move to a new step of its development, to establish assembly (with the production of some components) of a higher level of technology. The EC 645 T2 helicopter is one of the newest designs available on the world market. At the moment, serial production has not started in any country in the world. In the case of the successful realization of the signed document Kazakhstan will become one of the world flagships in the production of light attack helicopters.

The EC 645 T2 isn't currently in use with any military in the world, but it's a candidate for the U.S. Army's new Armed Aerial Scout helicopter. It boasts advanced laser targeting technology and the ability to be armed with a variety of rockets and guns.

It's not mentioned in Kazakhstan Engineering's press release, but presumably the first customer for the Kazakhstan-produced ED 645 T2s would be Kazakhstan itself. Kazakhstan doesn't really operate anything like this now; its only attack helicopter in service is the bigger Mil Mi-24. And if memory serves, this would be the third military aircraft deal in a row that Kazakhstan has announced that has been with a Western, rather than a Russian company. Kazakhstan's leadership is too careful to say this out loud, but three makes a trend, and it's easy to imagine that Rosoboronexport and the Kremlin are looking askance at this.