PARITY OF ARMAMENTS IN CAUCASUS IS NOT IN GEORGIA’S FAVOUR. ‘WE ARE SAFE SO LONG AS THERE IS CONFLICT BETWEEN ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN’
Rezonansi, Georgia
July 4 2013
by Eka Basilaia
At the time when there is an arms race underway in the South Caucasus
and Azerbaijan and Armenia possess the latest combat equipment worth
billions of dollars supplied by Russia, Georgia’s armaments are very
modest and not so modern, according to military experts.
When Rezonansi asked the prime minister at yesterday’s [3 July] press
conference what measures the Georgian Defence Ministry is taking
in order to preserve parity against the background of the arms race
between the South Caucasus states, he replied that the “Armed Forces
do not play the decisive role in the country’s security today.”
“The country does not need to buy armaments at this stage. We had
talks with Israel, and there was a confidential element too, but we
did not go there to buy arms. We do not need this and everything is
in order at this stage,” Bidzina Ivanishvili said.
It is worth noting that Russia supplied Baku with armaments
worth approximately 2 billion dollars in 2010 and 2011, including
strategically important S-300 surface-to-air missile systems which
can shoot down any of Armenia’s aircraft. This year, Baku bought
offensive weapons worth 1 billion dollars from Russia, including 94
T-90S tanks (i.e. the fully-equipped variant of this tank), hundreds
of other armoured vehicles, heavy artillery systems, and the latest
multiple launch rocket systems.
Russia has been supplying Armenia with these kinds of armaments,
including S-300s, for a long time now. However, unlike Azerbaijan,
[Armenia receives these armaments] at a discount price and sometimes
even completely for free, according to some commentators. At the
same time, the weapons are delivered to Armenia secretly, without
any details being disclosed.
In short, there is an arms race underway in the South Caucasus, and
two of the region’s three states are involved in it. Georgia is the
one that is not involved.
Giorgi Tavdgiridze, former head of the Military Academy, says that
Azerbaijan has purchased very large quantities of armaments from
Russia lately and the parity with Armenia has been broken, although
Russia has said that the Gyumri base [in Armenia] is sufficient to
contain Azerbaijan. Georgia lags significantly behind both neighbours
in terms of armaments.
“Russia has committed itself to ensure that this collapse of the parity
between Azerbaijan and Armenia does not result in the resumption of
conflict. For this reason, no complication is likely between these
two countries in the near future. As for Georgia, so long as there
is a problem between these two countries, Georgia will not become a
target of their aggression. One cannot even talk about parity between
us and them. It is easy to make an assessment as we are well behind
them in terms of the quantity and the quality of armaments and the
size of the Armed Forces. Georgia effectively has no air force or
air defence and is therefore incapable of establishing any kind of
protective umbrella. The armoured vehicles fleet is also problematic.
Even if we take theoretical calculations, it does not even come close
to matching Azerbaijan’s and Armenia’s armoured vehicles either
in terms of quantity or quality. Georgia has not made significant
purchases abroad since 2008,” Tavdgiridze said.
According to him, we have the Buk-M1 antiaircraft missile systems,
but only a few of them, and this quantity is not sufficient for the
protection of strategic facilities. For example, while we need to have
at least 13 Buk units, we reportedly only have five. He says that we
have not made a breakthrough in terms of antitank weapons either.
Buying modern missiles does not mean anything by itself.
Unfortunately, the Armed Forces are based on PR alone.
Giorgi Tavdgiridze: “In terms of quantity, we have not even used
up our quota. For example, we can have 250 tanks. We used to have
approximately 150 tanks and Russia captured a few dozen of those
in 2008. Also, we have T-72 tanks which is an obsolete model and is
largely inferior to Azerbaijan’s T-90. As far as antiaircraft defence
is concerned, we have the Buk, Oka, Spyder, Strela, and Grom missile
systems, but what matters is their quantity and their modern variants,
especially regarding portable antiaircraft weapons. We have the
Soviet-Polish systems of the Stinger type, which can be used against
targets at short distances and low altitudes and are therefore suitable
for defending yourself against helicopters. They are not like the
S-300, which has an operational range of 200-300 kilometres. It can
cover the entire Caucasus and is therefore an important acquisition
for the Azerbaijani Army. Even if we had a single S-300, it would
not solve all our problems. The most important thing is to create a
whole strategy and a system but it is pointless to give any advice
to the Defence Ministry.”
Retired General Vladimer Imnadze, executive director of the Generals’
Club, says that Georgia has quite modern armaments but could be facing
problems in terms of the reserve and spare parts. Most importantly,
Georgia’s armaments and equipment need to be used in the right manner.
At the same time, we need to compete with Armenia and Azerbaijan in
terms of armaments.
“Azerbaijan has an annual military budget of 3.4 billion dollars.
Armenia does not have either the funding or the armaments comparable
to those of Azerbaijan, but we should remember that Russia has signed
a military and strategic partnership agreement with Armenia and has an
obligation to defend Armenia. Moreover, Russia has a strong base in
Gyumri. Azerbaijan has signed the exact same kind of agreement with
Turkey. We are safe so long as there is a conflict between Armenia
and Azerbaijan. No matter how many weapons Georgia buys, the Army is
still small and we don’t have money either, so it is impossible to
preserve parity,” Vladimer Imnadze said.
According to the armada.ge and army.ge military analytical websites,
the following is an (incomplete) list of the Georgian Army’s current
armaments:
The Ground Forces armoury includes 186 T-72 main battle tanks (40
of which were upgraded in Israel), as well as some 20 T-55 tanks and
Ukrainian [T-84u] Oplot tanks.
The Artillery looks as follows: Grad, GRADLAR, Lar-170, and RM-70
multiple launch rocket systems. In 2012, the Army received about 10
units of the Grad-Kraz artillery systems assembled in Georgia.
The antiaircraft fleet includes ZSU-23 Shilka, Buk-M1, Osa, and Spyder
[missile systems].
The Air Force comprises nine Su-25 attack planes (that were upgraded
with new night vision, navigation, and homing systems in Israel),
seven L-39 Albatros jet trainers, 12 Mi-24 combat helicopters, and
18 Mi-8 transport helicopters.
Before the August 2008 war, the Georgian Air Force included an
antiaircraft division which was stationed at Kopitnari [airfield near
Kutaisi in west Georgia]. The unit’s armoury included the antiaircraft
missile systems Buk-M1, 9K33 Osa, and, of course, the Israeli-made
Spyders which were the greatest surprise of the August war for Russia.
The Air Force has Mi-24, Mi-8, Su-25 Mimino, and L-39 Albatros
aircraft. The Georgian Army has [UH-1] Iroquois and Mi-14 helicopters,
Hermes unmanned aerial vehicles [UAVs], Georgian-made UAVs, as well
as some 40 Skylark UAVs.
[Translated from Georgian]