Armed Forces reform: Georgia to create new air defence command centre

Reforming the Georgian Armed Forces (GAF) is one more step that brings the country closer to NATO.

Georgia’s Defence Minister Tinatin Khidasheli announced last night Georgia would create a special operational command for the country’s air forces, which combines aviation and air defence.

The change will be part of a major reform of the GAF, which should be carried out before the NATO Warsaw Summit in July.

Earlier it was decided within the GAF reform Georgia would establish two other operational command centres – one managing the country’s east and another overseeing the country’s west.

"A very important stage of reform and transformation is going on at the Defence Ministry,” Khidasheli said.

She added the creation of the west and east operational command centres had already been approved by the Government and now it was time to effectively manage the country’s air space.

"Our plan is to appoint an operation commander for aviation and air forces by the end of this week. I hope that the formation of this operational command will be completed by the end of June,” the Minister added.

Khidasheli said this was an extremely important process because "air defence is one of our country’s top priorities”.

Khidasheli believed Georgia had the potential to develop "real, practical mechanisms” to develop its air defences.

Georgia started to modernise its air defence in 2015 and at the time the country signed a contract to purchase a military air defence system from France.

Now Khidasheli said the Georgian-French contract had entered an "active phase” of cooperation.

"Moreover, in the NATO-Georgia joint package, air defence is one of top priorities so it is important to finish this reform before the Warsaw Summit, before new decisions are made about Georgia and new tools are offered to the country.”

"It is very important for us to be fully ready for the new positive challenges that we expect after the Summit.”