Georgia To Be Protected By Armed Drones

Georgia showed off its new domestically produced drone last week, a symbolic step in the development of the country’s nascent defense industry. But President Mikheil Saakashvili has much bigger plans for the country’s military-industrial complex, he has revealed, including an armed drone — by next year — and air defense systems. Saakashvili laid out the plans in a speech at a state-run defense factory in Tbilisi, as reported by Civil.ge: “I am sure that if we work well we will make air defense system too,” he continued. “Yesterday when we tested unmanned [aerial vehicle], some thought it was a toy… Go and buy if you can such a ‘toy’, which can fly for eight hours, equipped with cameras capable to capture images at night,” “From next year we will have similar [drone], but capable to carry arms… and it will be much more efficient then old Russian [ground] attack aircraft,” Saakashvili said. Saakashvili, who invoked Singapore as a model for Georgia’s defense industry to follow, also said that the country was in “serious talks” about exporting its Didgori and Lazika armored vehicles. At the same speech, though, Saakashvili said Georgia would also be relying on a lower-tech means of defense: a volunteer reserve force, […]
Georgia To Be Protected By Armed Drones