“Inflatable” defense
The complete pathos of the statements of defense officials almost always leave a feeling close to that which occurs when a bubble is bursting, and the movements towards the modernization of the defense complex more resemble a fairy tale about a white bull. True, in our, purely Kazakh, version brought to the highest degree of absurdity.
Ahead of the rest, or Ordinary “Flooding”
As the reader probably understood, we are talking about the activities of the National Company Kazakhstan Engineering JSC, created in 2003 by incorporating defense industry enterprises and military plants of the Ministry of Defense. Being “under the roof” of “Samruk-Kazyna” and under the control of the military department, this strategically important structure, more like a UFO, was repeatedly criticized at the highest level and outright ostracism by experts, which, however, did not make its management think and work in new ways. Sometimes suspicions are born that the main task that the employees of “Kazengineering” set for themselves is to make a smart look, especially when they need to promise with three boxes. The most important task is to make it even more intelligent when you have to explain why nothing came out of the promise. We draw such far-reaching conclusions, based not only on information about the projects for which this national company was taken, but also on the conclusions of specialists.
In May 2011, the then Deputy Minister of Defense Talgat Zhanzhumenov, from the pages of the press, gave the following description of Kazinzhiniring activities: “There is no production of military goods in Kazakhstan with a full technological cycle to meet domestic needs, except for factories producing ammunition, ships, boats and naval armament ... Today, physical and moral depreciation of fixed assets has reached a critical level - from 70 to 80%. Disposal of fixed assets comes at a rate of 1,5-2,5% per year, whereas the annual rate of updating the technological base does not exceed 0,1-0,5% ... Most of the company's enterprises have a production structure and use technologies introduced in the Soviet period and designed to operate in a planned economy . In addition, there is a depreciation of capital in the structure of financial balance sheets of enterprises, which, in turn, determines their low credit and investment attractiveness. In the current state, enterprises of National Company Kazakhstan Engineering JSC can produce competitive products only for relatively narrow market segments. ” However, in the future, the former deputy minister looked rather optimistic, stating that “the strategic development plan of the Republic of Kazakhstan before 2020 provides for state defense orders for 80% domestic production ... At the same time, preference should be given to incomplete import substitution by importing borrowed components and“ simplified "Technologies, and exclusive full-cycle production is desirable on local raw materials ... This problem can be solved through the creation of joint ventures, trans Firth technology to develop its own industrial and scientific base. "
If you believe the reports of the company itself, then it copes with this task on a solid top five. At least, its president, Bolat Smagulov, celebrating the tenth anniversary of “Cazinzhiniring”, stated that “the economic indicators, the production and technical potential of enterprises are steadily increasing,” and he was frankly proud of the success of the structure led by him. And, indeed, a couple of times a year we hear about the creation of the next joint venture for the production of defense products and about the prospects for Kazakhstan to turn into a military power. But for some reason, the generators of ideas, without bringing to mind any of the projects started, clutch at the second, third, fourth, turning the process of the so-called modernization of the defense complex into the most natural conveyor of absurdity. Of course, I would like to believe that Mr. Smagulov actually has reasons for pride, but for some reason they are not visible to outside observers, nor to experts, or military specialists.
In this regard, it is not a sin to recall the sensational Kazakh-Israeli cooperation. Namely, about the Naiza rocket launcher, the tests of which our colleagues described in the following words: “When the dust dropped a little after the jet salvo, the fighting vehicle lay in the field upwards with wheels ...”. Or about the self-propelled mortar “Aibat” and the self-propelled howitzer “Semser”. The media, referring to the opinions of scientists and practitioners, have repeatedly said that, for example, Naiza is unsafe for the crew and combat crew - in some cases the rocket jet will get into the vehicle platform on which the unit is based, and in some cases - in the cabin where people are hiding. And the installation, as it turned out, cannot fire with the declared Smerch and Hurricane missiles, since this could lead to its tilting. In short, when it became clear that with experienced 89 firing, the percentages of these installations failed after several volleys, this did not surprise the knowledgeable people.
The situation is similar with “Aibat” and “Semser”. At the first after the demonstration firing, the bottom of the crawler tractor casing was deformed. In the second, an overload of the chassis of the car on which the D-30 cannon is mounted is detected, moreover, the howitzer is brought to combat for a time three times the standard. However, in spite of all these “but”, the production of machinery was put on stream at the Petropavlovsk Heavy Engineering Plant - according to technologies developed by the Israelis especially for Kazakhstan. According to data on 2013 year, voiced by Kazinzhiniring employees, the 380 units of Nayza, 560 Aybatov and 160 Semserov are in service with the Kazakh army. The question of whether the indicated defects were corrected remained unanswered.
In pursuit of common sense, or the most important thing is quantity, not quality
No less interesting is the activity of the joint venture Eurocopter Kazakhstan Engineering LLP, which is engaged in the assembly and adaptation of EC-145 helicopters at a plant located near the international airport of Astana. The oddities, if not the confusion, are no less here. First of all, this is the price: if we didn’t “produce” these cars, but simply bought them, they would have been much cheaper. Secondly, there are serious doubts about the suitability of these types of helicopters to our weather and environmental conditions. Initially it was reported that the Kazakh assembly helicopters “can be used for various types of missions - emergency medical care, search and rescue operations, disaster management, transportation of passengers, etc.” Subsequently, this list only included “evacuation of citizens affected by road disasters. " There was no explanation why the Kazakh assembly helicopter was decided to be used in such a narrow context. Yes, they, in fact, were not particularly needed, since by that time the committee of the anti-corruption committee of the NDP “Nur Otan” voiced truly sensational conclusions regarding the “professional suitability” of helicopter models assembled in Kazakhstan. It turned out that they are not recommended to fly in the mountains and vertical flights at ambient temperatures above + 35 оС. In addition, it is impossible to fly in the autumn-winter and spring-winter period due to the lack of an anti-icing system, and because of the small capacity of the fuel tanks, flights with a range of more than 300 km cannot be operated. Another disadvantage is that it is forbidden to operate the helicopter at operational base points where there is no hangar. But helicopters continue to be produced, moreover, the company began to produce military helicopters - an armed version of the EC-145. But what is strange is that the characteristics of the military “turntable” for some reason contradict the characteristics of the base itself. At least, during the presentation last summer, the ability to work in high altitudes and hot climates was called as the unique characteristics of the helicopter ...
I would like to dwell on several superengineering projects of “Cazinzhiniring”, which also give a smell of cheating.
Most recently, in the middle of December, in Astana, a procedure for laying a capsule in honor of the start of the project for the production of armored wheeled vehicles took place. As part of this project, 2015 is planning to build a “technological complex with a capacity of up to 360 armored wheeled vehicles per year using modern robotic equipment to implement the full cycle of such works as cutting and welding of armor liners, on the territory of the Industrial Park of the Free Economic Zone“ Astana - Zhana Kala ” painting and assembling machines, conducting final quality control. ” “Kazinzhiniring” proudly reported that “such a project is planned to be implemented for the first time in Central Asia and will create a high-tech enterprise that can provide regional leadership in the defense and engineering industry, as well as solve a number of tasks set by the President to improve Kazakhstan’s defense capability technologies and know-how, training of Kazakhstani specialists and the creation of additional jobs. All machinery produced at the plant will be manufactured in accordance with international standards, which will allow selling products both within Kazakhstan and beyond its borders. ”
In principle, there are no questions about the cars themselves. Cazinzhiniring intends to cooperate with the Paramount Group from South Africa, which is known for producing masterpieces such as Moroder or Mbombe. Questions arise in a different plane and, in the first place, relate to the voiced enchanting perspectives. It seems that the staff of “Cazinzhiniring” live in their own world, and they are too lazy to move their necks and look around before making loud statements. If they had studied the experience of such cooperation, which Azerbaijan already has and which can hardly be called positive, then, it seems to us, the pathos would be greatly diminished.
Four years ago, Paramount Group announced its intention to export armored personnel carriers, produced jointly with the Ministry of Defense Industry of Azerbaijan, at a computer plant in Baku to the countries of Central Asia and the CIS. “Our production with Azerbaijan has become the object of attention and interest of other countries,” said then the president of Paramount Group Ivor Ichikowitz. - Some countries still can not believe that Azerbaijan can use this technology. I would also like to say that after Azerbaijan we received requests for cooperation. We said that our main partner in the CIS is Azerbaijan. If someone wants to use this technology, let him turn to the Ministry of Defense Industry (Ministry of Defense Industry of Azerbaijan - editor's note). ”
But, most likely, the real picture of co-production is very different from the one painted. Firstly, it is very doubtful that “Cazinzhiniring” would be so proud of the project that would have to be “begged” from the defense department of another state, and, secondly, Azerbaijan, which has similar production on its territory, was one of the first to show interest. ” in the purchase of Kazakhstan-made military equipment, in particular, special armored vehicles, ”as reported on 11 last December by the chairman of the supervisory board of Kazakhstan Engineering Distribution LLP Aibek Barysov. And, sadly, the whole situation seems to be the logical outcome of this kind of cooperation. It is also logical because at the very start of the implementation of a similar project, Azerbaijani experts predicted just such a course of events, speaking about the lack of demand for this product because of the high price component, which actually kills its competitiveness against the background of the corresponding Russian equipment. In addition, the support of the possible expansion of Azerbaijani armored vehicles to the CIS was fired by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev - he signed a document on the supply within the CSTO of military equipment on preferential terms, which made Russian products even more affordable. Why in “Kazinzhiniring” we are sure that we will manage to maneuver between the pitfalls about which the Azerbaijani ship crashed is incomprehensible and inexplicable. Moreover, the national company has already stranded, and more than once.
In the same series, the conclusion of a memorandum on the establishment of a joint Kazakh-Ukrainian production of BTR-4. This project not only led to another high-profile corruption scandal and arrests, but also unfolded against the background of another Buzz, caused by Ukraine’s supply of this type of weapons to Iraq. Iraqi specialists, taking the goods, found significant flaws in the firing systems, in particular, the failures of the new automatic 30-mm ZTM-1 guns. As they say, no comment. Today, the fate of this joint production is very vague ...
Alas, such “squiggles” are characteristic of almost all projects that the national company relies on. Therefore, it is not surprising that on the part of “Cazinzhiniring” activity seems to be the most natural window dressing. For example, the scientific editor of the magazine “Arms Export” Mikhail Barabanov from the pages of the Russian “Military Industrial Courier” explicitly states: “... in recent years, attempts have been made to reorient Kazakhstan Engineering to the opening of assembly plants from imported components, and such industries are trying to organize form of joint ventures from scratch - on the new technological base. Back in 2005, Kazakhstan-Engineering established with KamAZ, a Russian joint venture, KamAZ-Engineering, a joint venture for assembling KamAZ trucks in Kokshetau at Tynys plant. The joint venture operates with varying success. In 2007, 2500 machines were assembled, but the global financial crisis severely hampered production, and in 2009, only 200 units of equipment were produced, and in 2011, around 900 ... In 2010, Kazakhstan signed a procurement agreement for the European union Eurocopter The Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Republic of 45 medium EU-145 multi-purpose helicopters. For their assembly in Kazakhstan, the Eurocopter Kazakhstan Engineering joint venture was established at the Astana International Airport. The first six rotary-winged aircraft were delivered at the end of 2011 of the year, while it was declared that they were the first helicopters of Kazakhstan assembly. However, it is clear that Eurocopter supplied the machines as complete, and the amount of work with helicopters in Kazakhstan hardly exceeded the standard assembly after transportation. It is reported that in the 2012-2016 years the joint venture will carry out the "large-node assembly" of the remaining 39 helicopters, although the degree of its "large-nodularity" is also in doubt. At KADEX-2012, Kazakhstan-Engineering also concluded agreements on the organization of the assembly of Ukrainian BTR-4 and Russian Tiger armored vehicles (as already mentioned), as well as Turkish Otokar Cobra armored vehicles (most recently on PZTM). The possibility of adjusting the assembly of new Russian armored vehicles “Bear” and cars “Ural” is being considered. In all cases, as can be judged, it is a question of assembling from the supplied vehicle sets with a minimum level of localization ... Obviously, the “production” created in this way in Kazakhstan is largely semi-interactive in nature and, in fact, is rather a cover for direct imports. ”
Unfortunately, this is difficult to refute, and there is nothing to add to it ...
Ahead of the rest, or Ordinary “Flooding”
As the reader probably understood, we are talking about the activities of the National Company Kazakhstan Engineering JSC, created in 2003 by incorporating defense industry enterprises and military plants of the Ministry of Defense. Being “under the roof” of “Samruk-Kazyna” and under the control of the military department, this strategically important structure, more like a UFO, was repeatedly criticized at the highest level and outright ostracism by experts, which, however, did not make its management think and work in new ways. Sometimes suspicions are born that the main task that the employees of “Kazengineering” set for themselves is to make a smart look, especially when they need to promise with three boxes. The most important task is to make it even more intelligent when you have to explain why nothing came out of the promise. We draw such far-reaching conclusions, based not only on information about the projects for which this national company was taken, but also on the conclusions of specialists.
In May 2011, the then Deputy Minister of Defense Talgat Zhanzhumenov, from the pages of the press, gave the following description of Kazinzhiniring activities: “There is no production of military goods in Kazakhstan with a full technological cycle to meet domestic needs, except for factories producing ammunition, ships, boats and naval armament ... Today, physical and moral depreciation of fixed assets has reached a critical level - from 70 to 80%. Disposal of fixed assets comes at a rate of 1,5-2,5% per year, whereas the annual rate of updating the technological base does not exceed 0,1-0,5% ... Most of the company's enterprises have a production structure and use technologies introduced in the Soviet period and designed to operate in a planned economy . In addition, there is a depreciation of capital in the structure of financial balance sheets of enterprises, which, in turn, determines their low credit and investment attractiveness. In the current state, enterprises of National Company Kazakhstan Engineering JSC can produce competitive products only for relatively narrow market segments. ” However, in the future, the former deputy minister looked rather optimistic, stating that “the strategic development plan of the Republic of Kazakhstan before 2020 provides for state defense orders for 80% domestic production ... At the same time, preference should be given to incomplete import substitution by importing borrowed components and“ simplified "Technologies, and exclusive full-cycle production is desirable on local raw materials ... This problem can be solved through the creation of joint ventures, trans Firth technology to develop its own industrial and scientific base. "
If you believe the reports of the company itself, then it copes with this task on a solid top five. At least, its president, Bolat Smagulov, celebrating the tenth anniversary of “Cazinzhiniring”, stated that “the economic indicators, the production and technical potential of enterprises are steadily increasing,” and he was frankly proud of the success of the structure led by him. And, indeed, a couple of times a year we hear about the creation of the next joint venture for the production of defense products and about the prospects for Kazakhstan to turn into a military power. But for some reason, the generators of ideas, without bringing to mind any of the projects started, clutch at the second, third, fourth, turning the process of the so-called modernization of the defense complex into the most natural conveyor of absurdity. Of course, I would like to believe that Mr. Smagulov actually has reasons for pride, but for some reason they are not visible to outside observers, nor to experts, or military specialists.
In this regard, it is not a sin to recall the sensational Kazakh-Israeli cooperation. Namely, about the Naiza rocket launcher, the tests of which our colleagues described in the following words: “When the dust dropped a little after the jet salvo, the fighting vehicle lay in the field upwards with wheels ...”. Or about the self-propelled mortar “Aibat” and the self-propelled howitzer “Semser”. The media, referring to the opinions of scientists and practitioners, have repeatedly said that, for example, Naiza is unsafe for the crew and combat crew - in some cases the rocket jet will get into the vehicle platform on which the unit is based, and in some cases - in the cabin where people are hiding. And the installation, as it turned out, cannot fire with the declared Smerch and Hurricane missiles, since this could lead to its tilting. In short, when it became clear that with experienced 89 firing, the percentages of these installations failed after several volleys, this did not surprise the knowledgeable people.
The situation is similar with “Aibat” and “Semser”. At the first after the demonstration firing, the bottom of the crawler tractor casing was deformed. In the second, an overload of the chassis of the car on which the D-30 cannon is mounted is detected, moreover, the howitzer is brought to combat for a time three times the standard. However, in spite of all these “but”, the production of machinery was put on stream at the Petropavlovsk Heavy Engineering Plant - according to technologies developed by the Israelis especially for Kazakhstan. According to data on 2013 year, voiced by Kazinzhiniring employees, the 380 units of Nayza, 560 Aybatov and 160 Semserov are in service with the Kazakh army. The question of whether the indicated defects were corrected remained unanswered.
In pursuit of common sense, or the most important thing is quantity, not quality
No less interesting is the activity of the joint venture Eurocopter Kazakhstan Engineering LLP, which is engaged in the assembly and adaptation of EC-145 helicopters at a plant located near the international airport of Astana. The oddities, if not the confusion, are no less here. First of all, this is the price: if we didn’t “produce” these cars, but simply bought them, they would have been much cheaper. Secondly, there are serious doubts about the suitability of these types of helicopters to our weather and environmental conditions. Initially it was reported that the Kazakh assembly helicopters “can be used for various types of missions - emergency medical care, search and rescue operations, disaster management, transportation of passengers, etc.” Subsequently, this list only included “evacuation of citizens affected by road disasters. " There was no explanation why the Kazakh assembly helicopter was decided to be used in such a narrow context. Yes, they, in fact, were not particularly needed, since by that time the committee of the anti-corruption committee of the NDP “Nur Otan” voiced truly sensational conclusions regarding the “professional suitability” of helicopter models assembled in Kazakhstan. It turned out that they are not recommended to fly in the mountains and vertical flights at ambient temperatures above + 35 оС. In addition, it is impossible to fly in the autumn-winter and spring-winter period due to the lack of an anti-icing system, and because of the small capacity of the fuel tanks, flights with a range of more than 300 km cannot be operated. Another disadvantage is that it is forbidden to operate the helicopter at operational base points where there is no hangar. But helicopters continue to be produced, moreover, the company began to produce military helicopters - an armed version of the EC-145. But what is strange is that the characteristics of the military “turntable” for some reason contradict the characteristics of the base itself. At least, during the presentation last summer, the ability to work in high altitudes and hot climates was called as the unique characteristics of the helicopter ...
I would like to dwell on several superengineering projects of “Cazinzhiniring”, which also give a smell of cheating.
Most recently, in the middle of December, in Astana, a procedure for laying a capsule in honor of the start of the project for the production of armored wheeled vehicles took place. As part of this project, 2015 is planning to build a “technological complex with a capacity of up to 360 armored wheeled vehicles per year using modern robotic equipment to implement the full cycle of such works as cutting and welding of armor liners, on the territory of the Industrial Park of the Free Economic Zone“ Astana - Zhana Kala ” painting and assembling machines, conducting final quality control. ” “Kazinzhiniring” proudly reported that “such a project is planned to be implemented for the first time in Central Asia and will create a high-tech enterprise that can provide regional leadership in the defense and engineering industry, as well as solve a number of tasks set by the President to improve Kazakhstan’s defense capability technologies and know-how, training of Kazakhstani specialists and the creation of additional jobs. All machinery produced at the plant will be manufactured in accordance with international standards, which will allow selling products both within Kazakhstan and beyond its borders. ”
In principle, there are no questions about the cars themselves. Cazinzhiniring intends to cooperate with the Paramount Group from South Africa, which is known for producing masterpieces such as Moroder or Mbombe. Questions arise in a different plane and, in the first place, relate to the voiced enchanting perspectives. It seems that the staff of “Cazinzhiniring” live in their own world, and they are too lazy to move their necks and look around before making loud statements. If they had studied the experience of such cooperation, which Azerbaijan already has and which can hardly be called positive, then, it seems to us, the pathos would be greatly diminished.
Four years ago, Paramount Group announced its intention to export armored personnel carriers, produced jointly with the Ministry of Defense Industry of Azerbaijan, at a computer plant in Baku to the countries of Central Asia and the CIS. “Our production with Azerbaijan has become the object of attention and interest of other countries,” said then the president of Paramount Group Ivor Ichikowitz. - Some countries still can not believe that Azerbaijan can use this technology. I would also like to say that after Azerbaijan we received requests for cooperation. We said that our main partner in the CIS is Azerbaijan. If someone wants to use this technology, let him turn to the Ministry of Defense Industry (Ministry of Defense Industry of Azerbaijan - editor's note). ”
But, most likely, the real picture of co-production is very different from the one painted. Firstly, it is very doubtful that “Cazinzhiniring” would be so proud of the project that would have to be “begged” from the defense department of another state, and, secondly, Azerbaijan, which has similar production on its territory, was one of the first to show interest. ” in the purchase of Kazakhstan-made military equipment, in particular, special armored vehicles, ”as reported on 11 last December by the chairman of the supervisory board of Kazakhstan Engineering Distribution LLP Aibek Barysov. And, sadly, the whole situation seems to be the logical outcome of this kind of cooperation. It is also logical because at the very start of the implementation of a similar project, Azerbaijani experts predicted just such a course of events, speaking about the lack of demand for this product because of the high price component, which actually kills its competitiveness against the background of the corresponding Russian equipment. In addition, the support of the possible expansion of Azerbaijani armored vehicles to the CIS was fired by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev - he signed a document on the supply within the CSTO of military equipment on preferential terms, which made Russian products even more affordable. Why in “Kazinzhiniring” we are sure that we will manage to maneuver between the pitfalls about which the Azerbaijani ship crashed is incomprehensible and inexplicable. Moreover, the national company has already stranded, and more than once.
In the same series, the conclusion of a memorandum on the establishment of a joint Kazakh-Ukrainian production of BTR-4. This project not only led to another high-profile corruption scandal and arrests, but also unfolded against the background of another Buzz, caused by Ukraine’s supply of this type of weapons to Iraq. Iraqi specialists, taking the goods, found significant flaws in the firing systems, in particular, the failures of the new automatic 30-mm ZTM-1 guns. As they say, no comment. Today, the fate of this joint production is very vague ...
Alas, such “squiggles” are characteristic of almost all projects that the national company relies on. Therefore, it is not surprising that on the part of “Cazinzhiniring” activity seems to be the most natural window dressing. For example, the scientific editor of the magazine “Arms Export” Mikhail Barabanov from the pages of the Russian “Military Industrial Courier” explicitly states: “... in recent years, attempts have been made to reorient Kazakhstan Engineering to the opening of assembly plants from imported components, and such industries are trying to organize form of joint ventures from scratch - on the new technological base. Back in 2005, Kazakhstan-Engineering established with KamAZ, a Russian joint venture, KamAZ-Engineering, a joint venture for assembling KamAZ trucks in Kokshetau at Tynys plant. The joint venture operates with varying success. In 2007, 2500 machines were assembled, but the global financial crisis severely hampered production, and in 2009, only 200 units of equipment were produced, and in 2011, around 900 ... In 2010, Kazakhstan signed a procurement agreement for the European union Eurocopter The Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Republic of 45 medium EU-145 multi-purpose helicopters. For their assembly in Kazakhstan, the Eurocopter Kazakhstan Engineering joint venture was established at the Astana International Airport. The first six rotary-winged aircraft were delivered at the end of 2011 of the year, while it was declared that they were the first helicopters of Kazakhstan assembly. However, it is clear that Eurocopter supplied the machines as complete, and the amount of work with helicopters in Kazakhstan hardly exceeded the standard assembly after transportation. It is reported that in the 2012-2016 years the joint venture will carry out the "large-node assembly" of the remaining 39 helicopters, although the degree of its "large-nodularity" is also in doubt. At KADEX-2012, Kazakhstan-Engineering also concluded agreements on the organization of the assembly of Ukrainian BTR-4 and Russian Tiger armored vehicles (as already mentioned), as well as Turkish Otokar Cobra armored vehicles (most recently on PZTM). The possibility of adjusting the assembly of new Russian armored vehicles “Bear” and cars “Ural” is being considered. In all cases, as can be judged, it is a question of assembling from the supplied vehicle sets with a minimum level of localization ... Obviously, the “production” created in this way in Kazakhstan is largely semi-interactive in nature and, in fact, is rather a cover for direct imports. ”
Unfortunately, this is difficult to refute, and there is nothing to add to it ...
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