Kazakhstan’s military has introduced into service the first Arlan armoured vehicles built by Kazakhstan Paramount Engineering (KPE). The Arlan is based on Paramount’s Marauder.
Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) made the announcement on 11 August. Its Arlans are fitted with a 12.7 mm machinegun turret.
KPE is a joint venture between Paramount Group and Kazakhstan Engineering Distribution. The establishment of armoured vehicle manufacturing in Kazakhstan follows Paramount’s technology transfer and local manufacturing model that has also seen it establish facilities in Jordan and Azerbaijan. The 15 000 square metre Kazakhstan factory was opened in November 2015 and has the capacity to build over 200 armoured vehicles a year.
The first product is a winterised indigenous version of the Marauder called Arlan (Wolf), which was designed and developed following extensive collaboration with the Kazakhstan military and rigorous trials to meet the specific operational requirements of the Kazakhstan military, Paramount said. The new factory will also produce the Mbombe 6×6 armoured vehicle, known as the Barys. KPE will also offer the 4×4 Nomad internal security vehicle (based on the Maverick).