The Vaziani Military Base is located about twenty kilometers outside

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი, ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), ( ka, ტფილისი, tr ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia ( ...

at Latitude 41.6947 Longitude 45.0467,

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

Structure

The main base is spread over 10,000 hectares. The Vaziani airfield—location: —has strategic importance as its concrete landing-strip is suitable for middle ( Il-76MD) and heavy (

An-124 The Antonov An-124 Ruslan (; ; NATO reporting name: Condor) is a large, strategic airlift, four-engined aircraft that was designed in the 1980s by the Antonov design bureau in the Ukrainian SSR of the Soviet Union (USSR). The An-124 is the ...

"Ruslan") transport aircraft.

History

Soviet and Russian period

Under the Soviet Union, it was the home base of the 171st Guards District Training Centre, originating from the

Soviet 1st Guards Mechanized Corps The 1st Guards 'Vienna' Order of Lenin Order of Kutuzov Mechanized Corps was a Red Army tank, armoured formation that saw service during World War II on the Eastern Front (World War II), Eastern Front. After the war it continued to serve with So ...

. The airfield was home to the 283rd Aviation Division of the 34th Air Army. The Russians retained control of a number of military bases even after Georgian independence. Vaziani was one of them, the others being

Gudauta Gudauta ( ka, გუდაუთა, ; , ''Gwdowtha''; , ''Gudauta'') is a town in Abkhazia, Georgia, and the capital of the eponymous district. It is situated on the Black Sea, 37 km northwest of Sokhumi, the capital of Abkhazia. It is the ...

Akhalkalaki Akhalkalaki ( ka, ახალქალაქი, tr ; ) is a town in Georgia (country), Georgia's southern region of Samtskhe–Javakheti and the administrative centre of the Akhalkalaki Municipality. Akhalkalaki lies on the edge of the Javakheti ...

and

Batumi Batumi (; ka, ბათუმი ), historically Batum or Batoum, is the List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), second-largest city of Georgia (country), Georgia and the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, located on the coast ...

. It was from Vaziani that Igor Giorgadze was taken on a military flight to Moscow after the 1995 assassination attempt on President

Eduard Shevardnadze Eduard Ambrosis dze Shevardnadze ( ka, ედუარდ ამბროსის ძე შევარდნაძე; 25 January 1928 – 7 July 2014) was a Soviet and Georgian politician and diplomat who governed Georgia (country), Georgi ...

. At the OSCE Summit in Istanbul in 1999, the Russian Federation and Georgia released a joint statement that Russian military bases at Gudauta and Vaziani would be disbanded and withdrawn by 1 July 2001. Russia finally ceded control on June 29, 2001. A battalion of Georgia's 1st Infantry Brigade,

Georgian Land Forces The Georgian Land Forces ( ka, საქართველოს სახმელეთო ძალები) are the land force component of the Defense Forces of Georgia. They are the largest branch of the military and constitute the bulk o ...

, then took possession.

Government control

In July 2008, it was the site of Immediate Response 2008, which were U.S. training operations for Georgian forces. It was bombed in 2008 during the

Russo-Georgian War The August 2008 Russo-Georgian War, also known as the Russian invasion of Georgia,Occasionally, the war is also referred to by other names, such as the Five-Day War and August War. was a war waged against Georgia by the Russian Federation and the ...

. The Vaziani military base with its training areas has been chosen as a site for the construction of one of the planned joint NATO-Georgia training centers codenamed JTEC in accordance to the Wales Summit 2014 agreement on enhancing education and training cooperation between Georgia and NATO. During exercise "Noble Partner 2015", a rifle company of the US

173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team The 173rd Airborne Brigade ("Sky Soldiers") is an Airborne forces, airborne infantry brigade combat team (IBCT) of the United States Army based in Vicenza, Italy. It is the United States European Command's conventional airborne strategic respo ...

and a mechanized company of the 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division deploying

M2 Bradley The M2 Bradley, or Bradley IFV, is an American infantry fighting vehicle that is a member of the Bradley Fighting Vehicle family. It is manufactured by BAE Systems Land & Armaments (formerly United Defense) and entered service in 1981, with fi ...

s – 14 in total, participated in a joint mechanized infantry manoeuver alongside their Georgian counterparts, who on their side deployed the

BMP-2 The BMP-2 (''Boyevaya Mashina Pekhoty'', , literally "combat machine/vehicle f theinfantry") is an amphibious infantry fighting vehicle introduced in the 1980s in the Soviet Union, following on from the BMP-1 of the 1960s. Development his ...

For "Noble Partner 2016", which took place in May 2016 on the Vaziani training area, the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

deployed an armored unit of

M1 Abrams The M1 Abrams () is a third-generation American main battle tank designed by Chrysler Defense (now General Dynamics Land Systems) and named for General Creighton Abrams. Conceived for modern armored ground warfare, it is one of the heavies ...

tanks. File:US Navy 050919-F-5789F-163 U.S. Navy medical technicians assess an injured civilian during a simulated man-made disaster.jpg,

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest displacement, at 4.5 million tons in 2021. It has the world's largest aircraft ...

medical technicians assess an injured civilian during a simulated

man-made disaster A disaster is an event that causes serious harm to people, buildings, economies, or the environment, and the affected community cannot handle it alone. ''Natural disasters'' like avalanches, floods, earthquakes, and wildfires are caused by natur ...

during RESCUER/MEDCUER 05(RM 05). The annual exercise is designed to improve interoperability among the 17 participating countries by conducting crisis response, disaster relief, consequence management, and humanitarian assistance operations. (September 19, 2005) File:Urban Operations Exercise at Vaziani Training Area during Noble Partner 18 (2018-08-06).webm, 1- 171

Georgia National Guard The Georgia National Guard is the National Guard of the United States, National Guard of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, and consists of the Georgia Army National Guard and the Georgia Air National Guard. (The Georgia State Defe ...

and 2nd CR conduct a combined urban operations exercise with Georgian Special Forces, German 37th Panzergrenadier Brigade, and the Ukrainian Naval Infantry at Vaziani Training Area, Georgia Aug. 6, 2018 as part of Exercise Noble Partner 18.

References

External links

{{commons category, Vaziani Military Base
The Jamestown Foundation

OSCE Istanbul Document 1999
Military installations of Georgia (country)