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Monday, October 29, 2007, #206 (1473)
Georgia’s military will switch to Western equipment exclusively within the next few months, President Mikheil Saakashvili declared at an officers’ graduation ceremony at the National Defense Academy on October 25. Some analysts say this is an ambitious goal given the costs. It is thought that Saakashvili’s statement is related to the NATO summit in Bucharest next year, according to the newspaper Rezonansi. “We made a mistake when we purchased old military equipment after the revolution. Now we have to decide what to do with it,” analyst Irakli Sesiashvili said. Georgia has two options: sell its current military hardware as it is or turn it into scrap metal. The defense budget for 2008 is nearly GEL 1 billion, however analysts doubt that this will be enough to entirely fund Saakashvili’s re-equipment plan. |
Georgian military to switch to entirely Western-made equipment