Defence minister: military bases soon to have NATO-standard infrastructure

Georgian Defence Forces bases across the country will soon enjoy NATO-standard infrastructure, minister Juansher Burchuladze announced on Thursday in his presentation of the ministry's 10-year action plan.

Ongoing rehabilitation projects are set to complete by the end of the year on bases including Vaziani to the east of capital Tbilisi and Krtsanisi to the south of the city, Senaki base and Kutaisi Cadet Corps in the west of the country, as well as Gori in central Georgia and a number of locations of artillery unit deployment, the minister said.

Burchuladze revealed the effort on infrastructure included both rehabilitation of means to improve training capabilities at the bases as well as replace vehicle fleets. The latter has seen the MoD obtain around 500 trucks produced by MAN, Iveco and Ford.

In his summarising presentation of priorities, Burchuladze said the efforts would continue after the conclusion of the current phase at the end of the year, with Georgian Defence Forces units to receive "newest, light vehicles with high off-road capability".

The defence minister made the comments while presenting the action plan of the ministry over the next decade which includes work on starting joint production of drones with South African and Polish companies, handing over flats to servicemembers and more.