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Türkiye and Kazakhstan signed an agreement to establish a joint venture to produce and maintain Anka medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) on Kazakhstani soil.
The deal made Kazakhstan the first foreign country to manufacture the Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI)-developed system. One of 13 cooperation agreements was signed in the presence of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Kazakhstani President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev at Astana's Palace of Independence.
The joint venture agreement was signed between Secretariat of Defense Industries (SSB) President Haluk Gorgun and Nurlan Kuzhayev, head of Kazakhstan's Aircraft Repair Plant No. 406 JSC.
The Kazakhstani Industry and Construction Ministry confirmed the facility would be established jointly by Kazakhstan Engineering, the country's state defense company, and TAI.
The facility will handle both Anka production and maintenance operations.
Anka is a MALE-class UAV developed by TAI, with a wingspan of 17.5 meters, a length of 8.6 meters, and a maximum takeoff weight of 1,700 kilograms. It carries a payload capacity exceeding 350 kilograms, reaches a service ceiling of 30,000 feet, has an endurance of up to 30 hours, and a SATCOM range exceeding 2,500 kilometers.
First rolled out in 2010 and conducting its maiden flight on December 30 of that year, Anka entered serial production in 2013 under the Anka-S program.
It has accumulated over 400,000 flight hours across multiple operator inventories.
The Anka deal of Kazakhstan had a long runway: a military cooperation agreement signed in May 2021 included provisions on "tactical and experience exchange on reconnaissance and attack UAVs," and a memorandum of understanding between TAI and Kazakhstan Engineering was signed in 2022, targeting joint ANKA production with technology transfer covering maintenance and overhaul processes.
The latest joint venture agreement formalizes and advances that framework.
The Anka deal was among 13 agreements signed across trade, energy, education, transportation, and other sectors at the Sixth Meeting of the Türkiye-Kazakhstan High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council.
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