December 10 (SeeNews) - Kazakhstan Aselsan Engineering LLP, a joint venture between Kazakhstan Engineering National Co and Turkish defense firm Aselsan, has opened a factory for electro-optical equipment in Asthana, Kazakhstan's defence ministry said on Tuesday.
Kazakhstan's share in the joint project will be 30% initially and will rise to 67% in the next five years, the ministry said in a statement on its website.
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The factory will produce a diverse range of electronic boards used in different machines. In the next stage the facility will produce its own infrared lenses at a nano-level, according to the statement.
The $44 million (31.9 million euro) factory will produce border security equipment for Kazakhstan's army and for countries in the region. The facility employs 50 people and has the capacity to produce three thousand night vision devices, 1,200 thermal sighting devices and three thousand day vision devices, news agency Anadolu Ajansi said.
Aselsan has so far generated $34 million in sales in Kazakhstan. The factory targets $1 billion in sales in region's countries in the next ten years, Aselsan's deputy general manager Ozcan Kahramangil said as quoted by Anadolu Ajansi.
Kazakhstan Aselsan Engineering, 50%-owned by Kazakhstan Engineering, 49%-owned by Aselsan and 1% by Turkey's Undersecretariat for Defence Industries, was set up in 2011 to produce electro-optical and electronic systems, according to the news agency.
($ = 0.726 euro)