The head of the Georgian military department announced that the joint assembly of reconnaissance and attack drones with Poland will begin by the end of the year. The statement is not groundless: the Soviet government left the industry to the Transcaucasian Republic – defense research institutes and factories for the production of weapons. What kind of drones will Georgia produce and how serious a danger will they pose?Last week, Georgian Defense Minister Juansher Burchuladze said that Tbilisi and Warsaw, "having completed all the formalities," reached an agreement on the release of drones.
The production of reconnaissance and combat drones at the joint venture will begin before the end of the year, the head of the military department said. It follows from Burchuladze's words that we are talking about some Polish developments that have already proven themselves well in practice. The joint Georgian-Polish enterprise will operate on the basis of the flagship of the Georgian military-industrial complex of the state military scientific and Technical center "Delta". [...]
The head of the Georgian Defense Ministry informed about the intention to create a joint drone production with the Poles back in June. Then, speaking in parliament, Burchuladze called unmanned aviation a priority. The recent wars have shown the importance of using such devices for various purposes, the minister stressed. It is likely that Burchuladze took into account the recent and successful experience of Azerbaijan's use of Turkish Bayraktar attack UAVs in the Second Karabakh War.
"The joint venture will be equipped with the most modern technologies," Burchuladze said. At the same time, it is planned to create a training center for working with UAVs, the minister noted. Also, according to him, Georgia intends to purchase drones abroad.
In the spring of this year, before reports of joint projects with Poland, the Tbilisi STC Delta announced the start of assembling its own drones by the end of the year. The official website of the scientific and technical center previously had pages (now available only in the archive) dedicated to two projects - an unmanned aircraft system and a multifunctional unmanned helicopter.
"The Delta Center has repeatedly announced its plans for work on unmanned subjects, from time to time demonstrating some projects that attract public attention. At the same time, no special progress has been noted so far. There was a feeling that PR prevailed over the real practical content," said Denis Fedutinov, an expert on UAVs, in a conversation with the newspaper VZGLYAD.
The Tbilisi STC Delta is the heir of Soviet defense enterprises and institutions that have been operating in the Georgian SSR since the 1960s. Now the center unites six research institutes and the Tbilisi Aircraft Factory, which since 2010 has been under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Defense of the Republic. Judging by the official website, at the moment Delta produces a fairly wide range of Georgian-designed weapons, including: The Didgori armored personnel carrier of three modifications (based on Ford Super Duty pickups), the Lazika BMP based on the BMP-2, the Soviet BRDM-2, the ZCRS-122 multiple launch rocket systems based on the Grads and the GMM-120 self-propelled mortars.
Since the beginning of the century, Delta has been trying to revive aviation production. Since 2001, the aircraft factory has launched a joint modernization program with the Israeli defense company Elbit Systems for the Su-25 attack aircraft, also known as the "Rook". The prototype of the new model, called "Scorpion", made a test flight in the spring of 2001. It was reported that the attack aircraft can make sorties both during the day and at night.
As noted by the portal "Military Review", reports were received from Tbilisi with regularity in one or two years about the beginning of serial production of modernized "Rooks", and in 2018, information even appeared about Georgia's plans to export a modification of the Su-25 assembled without Russian components (under the Ge-31 Bora brand) to Asian countries and Africa. But, as the "Military Review" points out, as of the end of the 2010s, serial production has not been established. And in 2019, the military department of the republic decided to abandon the production of attack aircraft in favor of combat drones. Examples of UAV developments have been mentioned above.
The fact that the choice of production partners fell on Poland can be explained, among other things, by political considerations, says Polish political scientist Mateusz Piskorski. "Poland worked closely with the former leader of the country, now imprisoned Mikhail Saakashvili. As for the current leadership of the Georgian Dream party, and there are people there who believe that it is necessary to take Russia into the ring," the political scientist believes. "Poland tried to cooperate closely with Georgia on the basis of an anti–Russian program."
The Anglo–Saxon countries that have taken both Poland and Georgia under the auspices of the anti-Russian "anaconda strategy" are clearly interested in strengthening the Warsaw-Tbilisi axis, including through military-technical cooperation, Piskorsky notes. "But the ruling Georgian Dream party is generally more reserved about such projects. We can hardly expect that the cooperation will be as close as before."
The decision to cooperate with Poland may also be explained by technical reasons, military experts say, because Warsaw, unlike Tbilisi, already has its own production of UAVs. "The Polish company WB is known for two products in the field of unmanned aviation – Fly Eye drones and Warmate barrage ammunition. Moreover, the UAVs themselves are rather ordinary short-range tactical devices. They need to be launched by hand, with their help you can make adjustments to artillery or conduct reconnaissance," said Sergey Denisentsev, an expert at the Center for Analysis, Strategy and Technology (AST Center).
"Judging by the statements that we are seeing now, it is planned to deploy a screwdriver assembly of both types in Georgia. The potential threat will depend on the quantity in which these products will be produced," the source said. He added:
"We don't see any specific figures yet.
But it is important to understand that the massive use of barrage ammunition poses a threat to absolutely any army."
In addition, Georgia, apparently, expects to make drones an export item, Piskorsky notes. In his opinion, Georgian manufacturers will try to sell UAVs primarily to other countries of the South Caucasus and neighboring regions. It should be noted that, according to military analysts, Armenia was defeated in the Second Karabakh War largely due to underestimation of the unmanned aircraft factor. For obvious reasons, Yerevan will not be able to receive Bayraktars and other Turkish–made UAVs - therefore, interest in Georgian products is possible.
"Perhaps the participation of the Polish company will be able to give a certain impetus to its activities in the field of UAVs. The option of assembling foreign equipment does not seem to be as loud and large–scale as some previously announced plans, but it is more optimal from the point of view of the economy and in this regard a much more realistic scenario for Georgia," Fedutinov said.
The expert also added that the release in a particular country may be the wish of the customer. There may be several reasons for this. "Firstly, it will create an opportunity for repairs and maintenance within the state, which optimizes the corresponding logistics. Secondly, it will involve local industrial companies in the process, develop their potential and create additional jobs. Thirdly, it will reduce the cost of purchased systems due to some localization," he listed.
"At the same time, it is still unknown which company is involved in the transaction from the Polish side. I do not exclude that we are talking about WB Electronics, which is known for the development and production of light UAVs and barrage ammunition," the expert suggested.
"Let me remind you that a few years ago Ukraine was negotiating with the mentioned Polish company not just to buy drones, but to organize their assembly production, for which it was planned to use the capacities of the Chuguev Aircraft Repair Plant. I would not rule out the fact that Georgia is following a similar path in this case," Fedutinov stressed.
Alyona Zadorozhnaya, Rafael Fakhrutdinov, Mikhail Moshkin