Georgian Defense Forces Receive 600 M249 SAW LMGs from The United States
The Ministry of Defense of Georgia and the US Embassy in Georgia have published news articles telling about a US-funded program of equipping the Georgian Defense Forces with 600 M249 SAW light machine guns. The program includes a two-week weapon familiarization course for the Georgian military personnel conducted by US advisors. Half of the course was dedicated to field training held in the Krtsanisi training center and included various drills and target engagements at 100 to 600-meter distances.
Here is the statement published by the US Embassy in Georgia:
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Georgia, like all other post-soviet countries, inherited a small arms arsenal consisting of Soviet weapons. However, over the past years, Georgia has been gradually transitioning to NATO standard cartridges and weapons replacing the Soviet/Russian arms and ammunition. As mentioned by the Georgian Ministry of Defence, equipping their armed forces with the new machine guns “is part of the process of upgrading and modernizing armaments and equipment, which aims to increase the capabilities of the Defense Forces and interoperability with partner countries“.
Sources:“The United States is funding the equipping of the Georgian Defense Forces with 600 M249 Squad Automatic Weapons (SAW)”. (2020, November 20). US Embassy in Georgia. Retrieved from: https://ge.usembassy.gov/the-united-states-is-funding-the-equipping-of-the-georgian-defense-forces-with-600-m249-squad-automatic-weapons-saw/“Military Accomplished M-249 Light Machine Gun Operation Course”. (2020, November 19). Ministry of Defence of Georgia. Retrieved from: https://mod.gov.ge/en/news/read/8017/military-accomplished-m-249-light-machine-gun-operation-courseImages from www.mod.gov.ge, www.ge.usembassy.gov
Managing Editor Being a lifelong firearms enthusiast, Hrachya always enjoys studying the history and design of guns and ammunition. Should you need to contact him, feel free to shoot him a message at Hrachya@TheFirearmBlog.com
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The Georgian Army Company at the FOB in western Kandahar province running external force protection patrols came in the DFAC for lunch carrying PK's with 100-rd spam can mags. Gunners always got the aisle seats so they could set their pieces on the floor, pointing at everybody who walked in front of it. Everybody from every army who carried a weapon with a bi-pod did that.
Georgian Army
37.000 man, military budget 290 million US$
Some Crime gangs in Russia are larger and better equipped.