Kazakhstan to produce Russian drones

Air surveillance and monitoring systems equipped with Sunkar-2 drones (Russian name Irkut-10) built under license in Kazakhstan may begin service in Kazakhstan’s army, Interfax-Kazakhstan reports citing President of Russian-Kazakhstan joint company YAK ALAKON Aleksandre Toporov. “Kazakhstan Defense Ministry is considering the possibility of purchasing Sunkar-2 complexes for the armament of the Ground Forces,” Toporov said. He noted that Sunkar-2 are based on Russian Irkut-10 complexes developed by Irkut Engineering. YAK ALAKON has a license agreement for assembly and testing the drones it assembles. According to Toporov, Kazakhstan Defense Ministry needs “over two dozens” of such complexes. The plan is to equip up to 10 squads of Kazakhstan Armed Forces with such drones. Toporov reminded that the program for development of unmanned aviation to be implemented until 2020 has been developed in Kazakhstan. Irkut-10 drones are called to provide round-the-clock air surveillance and monitoring. Each Irkut-10 complex includes two unmanned aerial vehicles, ground control and maintenance equipment. Each aircraft can stay in the air for up to two hours and has the coverage radius of 70km. The aircraft’s maximum speed is 120km/h. Its wingspread is 2 meters and maximum takeoff weight is 8.5kg (with 1.5km of flight load).