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Kazakhstan establishes naval fleet for security of its oil wells

03 July 2010 10:41 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Lachin Sultanova â€“ APA. Kazakhstan establishes its naval fleet. According to APA, Kazakhstan will purchase 6 warships â€“ 3 patrol ships and 3 corvettes.
Astana hopes to have an agreement in place to build three patrol boats at the Zenit shipyard in Uralsk, recently.

By the end of the year, Kazakhstan could conclude another agreement for three corvettes. Kazakhstan remains â€œin negotiationsâ€ with a French-South Korean consortium, STX over the larger ship, Zhanzakov said. In-Kyu Kim, STX’s general manager for the Special and Naval Ship Business Division, said initial plans call for the corvettes to be armed with Exocet missiles, which are designed for use against other warships.

A navy would allow the Kazakhstani armed forces to patrol the open waters of the Caspian, up to 150 km from the coast, said Captain Zhandarbek Zhanzakov, commander of Kazakhstan’s Navy.

That would give Kazakhstan the ability to defend offshore energy rigs, Zhanzakov said. He added that the navyâ€™s chief mission would be deterring terrorism, not dealing with threats posed by other Caspian littoral states.