Agile Spirit is a great opportunity to “build interoperability, transparency,” and “just get stronger and stronger in our military cooperation,” said U.S. Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan at the Vaziani military airbase where the military exercises kicked off today.

“We’re out here at Vaziani airstrip for Agile Spirit, the annual exercise hosted by Georgia, co-led by the United States with 21 countries participating and over 3000 military personnel. Today we’re here for the paratroopers drop.  This is a great opportunity to exercise together, to build interoperability, transparency, and preparation so that when we do these exercises every year, we just get stronger and stronger in our military cooperation.

This is really exciting today to see 180 paratroopers from the United States, 173rd Airborne Unit here in Georgia as part of Agile Spirit, the annual exercise hosted by Georgia.  Georgian Defense Forces we thank you so much for this great support,” she said.

Georgia hosts Agile Spirit 2023, Georgian Defense Forces and U.S. Army Europe cooperatively-led joint multinational exercises for the 11th time.

Head of Georgian Defense Forces Giorgi Matiashvili, U.S. Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan and Military Attache at the U.S. Embassy in Tbilisi Joseph Bilbo attended the training.

First conducted in Georgia in 2011, Agile Spirit was an annual U.S. Marine Forces Europe exercise between the U.S. and the Georgian military forces.