KPE delivers Arlan MRAP vehicles to Kazakh Special Forces

Kazakhstan Paramount Engineering (KPE), a joint-venture between Kazakhstan Engineering and the South African private-sector conglomerate Paramount Group, announced that it has delivered a batch of Arlan mine-resistant ambush-protected (MRAP) armoured vehicles to the Kazakhstan Special Forces.

In its press release, Paramount Group states that it has “already started production on the next large order for Arlan vehicles with further deliveries expected during 2018.”

The Arlan is a ‘winterized’ variant of Paramount’s Marauder 4×4 MRAP vehicle. Designed to match with Kazakhstan’s cold weather environment, the Arlan incorporates additional cabin heating, different fluids specifications, including lubricants and fuels, and heated ballistic windows. As per Paramount, the Arlan can operate in temperatures ranging from -50° C to 50° C.

The Special Forces Arlan is also equipped with roof-mounted wire cutting blades, a barricade breaker, infrared cameras, laptop station, communication systems and night-vision equipment.

The Marauder/Arlans can transport up to 10 armed personnel. It has a payload of 4,000 kg. The Arlan is powered by a 285 hp Cummins engine, which enables the vehicle to reach a top speed of 120 km/h and range of 700 km. The Arlan’s armour has defensibility of up to STANAG 4569 Level 3 (for 7.62×51 mm and 12.7 mm bullets), while the chassis can sustain blasts of up to STANAG Level 3A and Level 3B (i.e. 8 kg of explosive material under the hull and 8 kg of explosive material under any wheel).

KPE is manufacturing the Arlan (along with other Paramount vehicle designs, such as the Mbombe-based Barys 8×8) from its 15,000m² facility established in Astana, Kazakhstan. As per Paramount Group, this “is the largest armoured vehicle factory in Central Asia.” It can roll-out at least 250 vehicles annually.

Paramount Group Chairman Ivor Ichikowitz celebrated the delivery:

In less than two years we have built a new state-of-art armoured vehicle factory from the ground up, we transferred skills to establish a highly efficient local workforce, we industrialised a new vehicle, and now we are ramping up production as we further increase deliveries to our customers.

This is a major achievement of which we are very proud of. It shows that our portable production model works. It shows that with the right partners we can set up production anywhere in the world and deliver world-class technologies to our customers in a fast and efficient way.

Paramount Group markets the KPE plant as “the technology transfer and local manufacturing model championed by Paramount Group globally, and realized through strategic alliances with governments and strong local partners.” Kazakhstan hopes to have KPE export armoured vehicles.