Georgia-NATO drills get underway
Forces from Georgia and NATO Allies began ten days of exercises on Thursday (10 November 2016), honing the ability of Georgian staff officers to work alongside Allied counterparts in planning and executing crisis response operations Taking place at the NATO-Georgia Joint Training and Evaluation Centre in Krtsanisi, Georgia, the drills involve approximately 250 personnel. This is the second exercise held in Georgia under a framework of intensified cooperation – known as the Substantial NATO-Georgia Package – which was agreed at the 2014 NATO Summit in Wales.
TBILISI, GEORGIA – Officials from the Georgian Ministry of Defence and NATO commenced the NATO-Georgia Exercise 2016 at Vaziani military base near, Tbilisi, Georgia.
The exercise is designed to train a Georgian-Led multinational brigade headquarters staff to plan, coordinate and execute a crisis response operation based on a realistic scenario. The Exercises will test the how Georgian, Allied and Partner Forces, work together as well as Georgian command and control capabilities. It will also test the ability to adopt a comprehensive approach to crisis response, which includes civil-military cooperation with international organizations and Non-Governmental Organizations.
Ms. Lela Chikovani, Georgian First Deputy Minister of Defense, Brigadier General Vladimir Chachibaia, Deputy Chief of General Staff of the Georgian Armed Forces, Brigadier General Ladislav Jung, Deputy Commander of Joint Force Training Centre in Poland and Colonel Thorsten Koehler were on hand to launch the exercise.
A total of around 250 personnel are involved in the exercise, including the Georgian Armed Forces, many nations and partners and several NATO command headquarters, affiliated structures and training centres. This exercise marks another milestone in the Substantial NATO-Georgia Package implementation and in the development of long-standing NATO-Georgia military cooperation, the exercise is also further recognition of Georgia’s commitment to strong defence and shared approaches to international security.
Thirteen Allied Member States and partners are providing officers including Turkey, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Belgium, Slovenia, United Kingdom, United States, and Partner nations Ukraine and former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia¹.