TBILISI (Sputnik) — The US-Georgian military exercises Noble Partner 2016 concluded at the Vaziani airport near the capital city of Tbilisi on Tuesday.
"Every military exercise like this one is a guarantee that the Georgian Armed Forces are becoming closer to NATO but the military proximity is not enough and we need a political consensus. The fact that there is an officially formed NATO battalion here proves fundamental steps forward in this direction," Georgian Defense Minister Tina Khidasheli told journalists.
The Defense Ministry stated earlier that a NATO military unit was deployed in the country and if necessary it could engage in the NATO Response Force.
The Noble Partner exercise brought together 500 Georgian and 650 US servicemen, as well as 150 UK military personnel. It featured a full range of equipment, from US Abrams tanks and Bradley infantry vehicles to M119 howitzers to T-72 tanks and BMP-2 infantry combat vehicles.
Georgia’s membership of NATO will be addressed at the alliance’s June summit in Warsaw.
