ASTANA – The Semey Engineering company, which produces combat and armoured vehicles, has created a new, unique, armoured vehicle for use in fighting fires, Kazakh TV reported on March 24.
Armored fire engine BMP. Photograph: Army Recognition
“It’s a Kazakh vehicle,” said Deputy Director of Semey Engineering Ramil Bayazitov, as quoted in the Kazakh TV report. “We have the rights to it. The development is ours.”
The machine is designed to allow firefighters to combat fires without leaving the vehicle, and has a video surveillance system that will allow them to see what they are doing. The new vehicle, described as very agile and manoeuvrable, was in development for about a year before its launch, Kazakh TV reported.
Bayazitov said that the demand for machines of this type is very high in the armed forces, and that the vehicle was recently tested at Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Defence.
Semey Engineering, a subsidiary of Kazakh Engineering, is primarily engaged in the maintenance, repair, overhaul and upgrade of armoured vehicles, according to an Army Recognition website report from May 2014, which said the Kazakh government had ordered $49 million-worth of equipment from the firm since 2010. The company’s website describes it as the only specialised company in Kazakhstan engaged in this type of work.
In November 2014, a Janes.com report announced that the firm intended to expand into the armoured vehicle manufacturing market by 2021. Managing Director of Kazakhstan Engineering Nikolai Pospelov said the company had created a design bureau to begin working on the technical documentation required for armoured vehicle production, Janes and other sources reported.
Semey Engineering is a regular participant in Kazakhstan’s biennial KADEX Defence Technology Expo.
