Recently Georgia and France have signed an agreement on procurement of advanced air defense systems. There is not enough information on the content of the agreement. According to the defense Ministry it was signed by Georgian Minister of Defense and the director of American-French joint company ThalesRaytheonSystems (TRS).
Neither the type of the system the country is buying, nor its price is being announced. Moreover, the Georgian Defense Minister declared that the process is not completed, and another deal is being prepared for signing on arms procurement. During August war in 2008
The change of European partners' position can be explained by several factors. First of all Russia-West relations are in quite a tense situation and possibility of it becoming even tenser is low. Moreover, NATO has already implemented steps to support its eastern members, as well as those countries seeking membership to raise their defense potential (military aid, deploying troops or increasing the number of deployed troops, joint military drills). In such a situation, not to give any support to Georgia, which always complains about "Russian aggression" and at the same time got a special package at NATO summit in
It should be noted that this agreement will have its impact on
With this deal the Georgian government tries to emphasize its commitment to Euro-Atlantic vector and the readiness to combat "Russian threat". Moreover the formation of strong image of pro-Western force is important towards the parliamentary elections of 2016.
It is noteworthy that such an agreement will have a positive impact on
In conclusion we can say that regardless of the type of air defense systems and its efficiency coefficient, the fact of such deal is quite important and, of course, it can not remain unanswered.