Georgia in Loan Agreement to Fund EUR 77.6mln Air Defense French Deals

Two contracts, Georgia signed this summer in Paris on acquisition of air defense system, are worth EUR 77.63 million, according to loan agreements the government submitted to the Parliament for ratification.

One of these two defense deals was signed by the Georgian Ministry of Defense with a producer of ground-based surveillance radars and air defense command and control systems ThalesRaytheonSystems on June 15. 

Another contract was signed by the MoD with missile manufacturer MBDA France on July 10.

Neither values nor content of the two contracts were reported by the officials at the time.

Information about type of the equipment and services Georgia is purchasing still remains confidential, but the value of the contracts was made public as a result of loan agreements Georgia has signed to raise funds for air defense system acquisitions.

The loan agreements with French bank Société Générale were signed by the Georgian Finance Ministry on December 8.

5-year EUR 82.82 million loan is backed by the France’s export credit agency Coface.

EUR 52.65 million of the total loan amount will be used to finance purchase of unspecified equipment and services from ThalesRaytheonSystems, which produces ground-based surveillance radars and air defense command and control systems.

EUR 24.98 million will be directed to finance acquisitions from missile manufacturer MBDA France.

The remaining amount of loan – EUR 5.19 million – is for risk mitigation and other costs, including Coface’s premium.

The loan agreements, which were submitted to the legislative body for ratification on December 16, are expected to be discussed by the parliament this week.