In early 1996 Richard Woff wrote in Jane's Intelligence Review that the ground forces had been commanded since May 1994 by Major General Gujar Kurashvili.

Dumbadze was accused of disobeying Tbilisi's orders, and working on Aslan Abashidze's behalf to block the highway connecting Ajara to the rest of Georgia.

[8] In August 2008, following a series of fierce clashes in South Ossetia, Georgia attempted to restore order to separatist held territory by force.

Hence, owing to participation in international peacekeeping missions the military members are able to obtain practical experience and to show readiness to cooperate with NATO and with other partner countries' forces.

Georgia has 1,570 troops serving there, making the small Caucasus country of 4.5 million people the largest non-Nato contributor to the Afghanistan mission.

[2] From 1992 until 2003 throughout the Georgian army heavily relied on Soviet military equipment which became outdated over time, and for most part out of order due to poor maintenance.

Numerous other military hardware, including T-72 tanks, were donated to the armed forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs but these were also decommissioned in 2004 due to its reorganization process.

Since 2001 Georgia started petitioning for NATO membership and enhancing its military capabilities in cooperation with numerous post-Soviet suppliers such as the Czech Republic and Ukraine.

In 2003 the Georgian government undertook efforts in acquiring modern hardware, which included a delivery package from Israel of over a classified number air defense systems and small arms.

Expansions of the agreement that included a long term supply of Merkava III-IV tanks were repeatedly rejected by the Israeli side.

Thus Georgia began buying large amounts of T-72 tanks, which led to a scandal involving the delivery of dozens of broken down T-72s from Ukraine.

Even though the new plan was revoked, a large armoured fleet was established within a few years and in 2005 the Georgian army was able to field over 170 tanks during exercises.

During the 2008 Russo-Georgian War, the Georgian military suffered numerous material losses, including newly updated tanks and infantry fighting vehicles that were left behind during the ceasefire and captured or destroyed by Russian troops.

After the war, Georgia started filling these gaps with renewed agreements and increased its efforts to enhance the country's defence capabilities.

Georgia made several deals with France in 2015 to acquire more advanced air defence radars and missiles such as the GM-200 / GM-403 and Mistral systems, which were delivered in 2018.