Georgian instructors teaching local, partner state troops at NATO-Georgia training centre

Georgian drill instructors are leading courses for international observer trainers alongside their colleagues from Lithuania at the NATO-Georgia Joint Training and Evaluation Centre (JTEC), with field manoeuvres involving troops from alliance member and partner states included in the five-day training.

Service members from Georgia, Lithuania, Ukraine and the United States are involved in manoeuvres at training grounds while instructors are assessing their performance in a bid to hone their own skills as International Observer Coaches/Trainers.

Composed of both theoretical and practical elements, the course is taught by Georgian and Lithuanian officers while the field manoeuvres are hosted at the Norio Training Area.

On Friday, the drill location saw squad-level action for breaking through a minefield and barbed wire-protected area, with defence attaches from Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Ukraine in attendance along with JTEC head, Lieutenant Colonel Davit Gagua, the defence ministry said.

The MoD also noted there were plans in place to increase the scope of the training in the future. The International Observer Coach/Trainer course aims to support "NATO interoperability by increasing the number and quality of OCTs for training exercises up to multinational level."

Detailed information about the course can be found on the official JTEC website.