The Ministry of Defense has confirmed the media reports that the Su-25 (NATO specification “Frogfoot”) of the Georgian Defense Forces Air Command has crashed near the military airport near the town of Bolnisi, in the south of Georgia, during what is described as “routine training.” The pilot, identified as Kakhaber Zurabishvili, is reported dead.
The total number of Su-25 jets in Georgia’s inventory is not available. A total of eight Su-25s took part in the military parade on May 26, 2024. The Georgian Air Forces command announced the project to upgrade all of Georgia’s Su-25 ground attack jets in 2020, and the government reported that works on four such jets were completed in September 2021.
The Defense Ministry did not clarify whether the crashed jet was one of those from the upgraded batch or whether all jets would be grounded pending inquiry.
On July 3, the Georgian MoD stated that the case is being investigated by Military Police under the supervision of the Prosecutor’s Office, and that the airplane sucessfully passed the technical checks before flight.
NOTE: This news article was updated at 12:10 p.m. on July 3 to include MoD’s statement.
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