Georgian sea, land forces set for Sea Breeze 2021 drills in Ukraine
Georgian Defence Forces and interior ministry coast guard professionals have joined the drills since 2001. Photo via Border Police of Georgia.
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Land and sea assets as well as staff from the Georgian Defence Forces will participate in Sea Breeze 2021 multinational drills led by the United States and Ukraine hosted in the Black Sea regions of Ukraine starting next month.
In the annual manoeuvres that have involved Georgian troops since 2001, forces from 30 NATO member and partner states will join to conduct the exercise aimed at improving interoperability of allied units in the Black Sea region.
Drills will take place in Mykolaiv, Kherson, and Odesa regions, with over 30 military vessels, 30 aircraft and more than 1,400 land troops involved from all participants.
#SeaBreeze 2021: #Ukraine, 29 #NATO Allies to conduct joint exercisehttps://t.co/YL1TQZpN7Z pic.twitter.com/t6pww3AguM
— UNIAN (English) (@unian_en) May 17, 2021
From the GDF side, a platoon-sized unit of the 31st Battalion of the 3rd Infantry Brigade will join the land element of the manoeuvres, with special operations divers taking part in exercises in Port of Odesa, and two officers from the GDF General Staff involved in the multinational naval staff of the drills.
The Georgian coast guard, operating under the interior ministry, will also have their professionals take part in the upcoming Sea Breeze drills, with vessels of the department joining their counterparts at sea while a related staff segment also involves Georgian participants.
Sea Breeze began in 1997 in partnership between the US Department of Defence and the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine.
Georgian Coast Guard service and a group of NATO vessels joined forces in drills in the Black Sea, the interior ministry reported on Friday.
Chief of Georgian Defence Forces Major General Giorgi Matiashvili discussed the country's joint projects with NATO at the alliance's headquarters on Tuesday, with defence chiefs meeting in person in Brussels.
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.
Special forces units from Georgian Defence Forces are involved in drills alongside counterparts from NATO member and partner states in the alliance's annual Trojan Footprint exercise involving air, sea and land assets in five host countries.
Land and seaborne units of the Georgian Defence Forces and the coast guard of the country are joining their counterparts from no less than 30 countries in a large-scale Sea Breeze 2021 drills centred around the Black Sea region.
The Georgian coast guard service released the assessment of its participation in Sea Breeze multinational defence drills in Ukraine and Black Sea, concluded last weekend, in its celebration of Georgian Coast Guard Day on Friday.