Kazakhstan Receives Five S-300 Anti-Aircraft Missile Systems

Russia has delivered five S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems to Kazakhstan, the Kazakh Defense Ministry press service said on Tuesday.

Kazakh Defense Minister Imangali Tasmagambetov and his Russian counterpart, Sergey Shoigu, have signed an agreement to expand bilateral technical and military cooperation.

“We have signed an agreement that opens new areas for future work in the field of technical-military cooperation,” Tasmagambetov said after his meeting with Shoigu Tuesday.

According to the Defense Ministry, Moscow is also preparing to ship more than 170 anti-aircraft missiles.

“The Russian-Kazakh agreement on military-technical cooperation came into effect last year. This has enabled our armed forces to receive modern weapons at the same price as the Russian armed forces, such as the Su-30CM fighter jet, the Mi-171Sh transport and the Mi-35 combat helicopter, electronic intelligence and monitoring, as well as other weapons,” the Kazakh ministry said.

Under the agreements, the Defense Ministry stressed the importance of the new conditions for the use of the Balkhash Node missile attack early warning system, including its management under a Kazakh-Russian joint operation.

The Balkhash Node radar system is part of the Russian early warning system in the Kazakh region of Karaganda. The system continuously scans the skies to detect and track ballistic missiles and space objects, as well as defining the parameters of their movements and relaying information to command centers.