Noble Partner 2017 military exercises officially close today

The largest edition of the annual Noble Partner defence exercise has officially ended at the Vaziani military air base outside the capital of Tbilisi.

#NoblePartner field exercise during closing ceremonypic.twitter.com/kdkVaEbB14

— MOD Georgia (@ModGovGe) August 12, 2017

Uniting under the banner of the exercise’s motto Strength Through Partnership, more than 2,800 service members from Georgia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Ukraine, Turkey, Slovenia and Armenia participated in the drills focused on improving defence and attack skills.

Georgian Defence Minister Levan Izoria has congratulated the soldiers with successful participation in the Noble Partner 2017 military drills. Photo by Georgian Defence Ministry’s press office

Georgia has been hosting the largest edition of the annual Noble Partner defence exercise with its European and regional partners with troops from eight countries joining forces for the training from July 30.

#NoblePartner contributes to our deepening partnership,defence capability as well as regional stability&GE's path to #NATO mmbrship - Izoria pic.twitter.com/NkkkQJd7T7

— MOD Georgia (@ModGovGe) August 12, 2017

The Noble Partner 2017 is a part of drills of the European Command in the Black Sea region, which is being held on the territory of seven countries.

Noble Partner 2017 continued Saber Guardian in Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary and Sea Breeze in Ukraine. Photo by Georgian Defence Ministry’s press office

Established in 2015, the Noble Partner exercise was initially founded to train service members from the Georgian Armed Forces and NATO member states for the NATO Response Force (NRF) unit and to improve the Georgian troops’ interoperability with NATO units.