Military of Kazakhstan

[Prapor]

Republican Guards

Deputy Chief of Heads of Staff Committee general-major Mukan Dyusukeev and some Chinese general in SCO mutual excercizes

Kazakhstan actually has possibly the best military force in the former Soviet Union, by quality of troops. There are 65,800 active personnel and a further 237,000 in reserve.
The Republic currently spends $1.125 billion or 0,8% of its GDP on defense and that has been increasing steadily. As a member of Shanghai Cooperation Organization and Collective Security Treaty Organisation, Kazakhstan enjoys military ties with Russia and China, and has also been cooperating with Iran... in the field of nuclear research :sorry:

 

[Prapor]

Kazakh Navy ship

Tankists

Paratrooper

Marines

Specnaz (special forces)

Mi-8 helicopter

Soldier on APC

Kazakh soldier during training excercize

Gen. Maj. Adilbek Aldaberpenov (left), Kazakhstan Air Mobile Forces commander, greets Lt. Gen. William G. Webster, Third Army/U.S. Army Central commanding general, 2009

Kazakhstan is the only country in the former Soviet Union (except the Baltic States), to have a fully contract-based/professional (non-conscript) military force.

 

[AussieNick]

I'm always amazed at how nations field such (relatively large) military forces with such low budgets.

The ADF only has a total of 80,000 personnel (Army, Navy and Airforce, full time and reserve) yet spends approximately $20 billion annually on Defence. This equates to about $250,000 per person, per year.

Yet Kazakhstan fields a defence force of about 307,000 personnel with an expenditure of about $3664 per person per year.

I guess I want to know just what the disparity between pay, conditions, equipment, housing, research and development etc etc is. It is just such a giant disparity I struggle to understand how you could run a military on that little.

 

[Prapor]

I'm always amazed at how nations field such (relatively large) military forces with such low budgets.

The ADF only has a total of 80,000 personnel (Army, Navy and Airforce, full time and reserve) yet spends approximately $20 billion annually on Defence. This equates to about $250,000 per person, per year.

Yet Kazakhstan fields a defence force of about 307,000 personnel with an expenditure of about $3664 per person per year.

I guess I want to know just what the disparity between pay, conditions, equipment, housing, research and development etc etc is. It is just such a giant disparity I struggle to understand how you could run a military on that little.

Well, yes, salaries are much lower. But, also, as far as equipment, research, etc, SCO and CSTO members do help each other out with this kind of thing. There is a lot of cooperation in research, we share our military technologies.

CSTO leaders, from left to right:


Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev
Kyrgyz President Roza Otunbayeva
Armenian President Serzh Sargisian
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev
Tajik President Imomali Rakhmon
CSTO General Secretary Nikolai Borydzha

 

[AussieNick]

I figured salaries would be a lot lower, but the sharing of R&D makes a lot of sense. Great pics too.

 

[A Can of Man]

Great pictures!
Another cost cutting thing would probably be facilities. They probably still live in the same buildings built in the 60's.

 

[Prapor]

Kazakh Air Forces video


Kazakh specnaz


Hand to hand combat competition Kazakh VDV (paratrooper, in camo) vs KNB (military intel/recon) fighters


Russian and Kazakh forces combined exrecizes

 

[senojekips]

Thanks for a great insight into the Kazakh forces.

The photos are great.

 

[Shmack]

I figured salaries would be a lot lower, but the sharing of R&D makes a lot of sense. Great pics too.

It is also a matter of a giant purchasing power disparity. When i was assigned to Kazakhstan, i came there via Astana (capital city). The first thing i bought there was a pack of cigarettes which costed some 5 or 6 times as little as the same one in Moscow. Same with anything. But when i reached my destination point they told me there that Astana was a 'damn expensive city'. So, calculation of expenditures can mislead you very seriously.

 

[A Can of Man]

Sounds familiar!
So about this pre-owned ICBM...

 

[Shmack]

Wanna strike some store where they shortchanged you with beer? I'm asking because that's the exact reason why i have joined missile forces.

I've seen this US-made movie (don't remember the name) where some Russian smuggler was saying to his American client: missiles are the shiled of Russia, i don't sell Motherland. So that's not about me lol.