1.
Georgia Air National Guard
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The Georgia Air National Guard is the air force militia of the U. S. state of Georgia. It is, along with the Georgia Army National Guard, an element of the Georgia National Guard, as state militia units, the units in the Georgia Air National Guard are not in the normal United States Air Force chain of command. They are under the jurisdiction of the Governor of Georgia though the office of the Georgia Adjutant General unless they are federalized by order of the President of the United States, the Georgia Air National Guard is headquartered in Atlanta, and its commander is Brigadier General Jesse Simmons. Under the Total Force concept, Georgia Air National Guard units are considered to be Air Reserve Components of the United States Air Force, Georgia ANG units are trained and equipped by the Air Force and are operationally gained by a Major Command of the USAF if federalized. State missions include disaster relief in times of earthquakes, hurricanes, floods and forest fires, search and rescue, protection of public services. The Georgia Air National Guard has 3,000 airmen and officers assigned to two flying wings and six geographically separated units throughout Georgia, Savannah Combat Readiness Training Center, Savannah IAP, Savannah Provide the most realistic training environment possible for today’s war fighter. The Militia Act of 1903 established the present National Guard system, units raised by the states but paid for by the Federal Government, if federalized by Presidential order, they fall under the regular military chain of command. On 1 June 1920, the Militia Bureau issued Circular No.1 on organization of National Guard air units, the Georgia Air National Guard origins date to 1 May 1948 with the establishment of the 128th Observation Squadron and is oldest unit of the Georgia Air National Guard. The squadron is a descendant organization of the World War I 840th Aero Squadron, the 840th was a non-flying Air Service support unit, formed in Texas. Deployed to England in May 1918, then serving in the area behind the Western Front in France as an aircraft repair squadron beginning in August. Remained in France after the November 1918 Armistice, returning to Langley Field, the 128th Observation Squadron was one of the 29 original National Guard Observation Squadrons of the United States Army National Guard formed before World War II. The 128th Observation Squadron was ordered into service on 15 September 1941 as part of the buildup of the Army Air Corps prior to the United States entry into World War II. These unit designations were allotted and transferred to various State National Guard bureaus to provide them unit designations to re-establish them as Air National Guard units, the modern Georgia ANG received federal recognition on 20 August 1946 as the 128th Fighter Squadron at Marietta Army Airfield. The 128th was equipped with F-47N Thunderbolts, and its mission was the air defense of the state, also on 20 August, the 158th Fighter Squadron was activated at Chatam Army Airfield, Pooler, also equipped with F-47Hs. Also, on 20 August 1946, the 54th Fighter Wing at Marietta Army Airfield, the 54th Fighter Wing was a command and control organization for units in the Southeastern region of the United States. The 54th controlled Air National Guard units in Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, on 9 September 1946, the 116th Fighter Group, also at Marietta AAF was activated, becoming an intermediate Command and Control organization for the 54th FW. The 1166th assumed control of both the 128th and 158th Fighter Squadrons, at the end of October 1950, the Air National Guard converted to the wing-base Hobson Plan organization. As a result, the wing was withdrawn from the Georgia ANG and was inactivated on 31 October 1950, the 116th Fighter Wing was federalized on 10 October 1950 due to the Korean War
2.
Georgia (country)
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Georgia is a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. The capital and largest city is Tbilisi, Georgia covers a territory of 69,700 square kilometres, and its 2016 population is about 3.72 million. Georgia is a unitary, semi-presidential republic, with the government elected through a representative democracy, during the classical era, several independent kingdoms became established in what is now Georgia. The kingdoms of Colchis and Iberia adopted Christianity in the early 4th century, a unified Kingdom of Georgia reached the peak of its political and economic strength during the reign of King David IV and Queen Tamar in the 12th and early 13th centuries. Thereafter the kingdom declined and eventually disintegrated under hegemony of various powers, including the Mongols, the Ottoman Empire. Russian rule over Georgia was eventually acknowledged in various treaties with Iran. Since the establishment of the modern Georgian republic in April 1991, post-communist Georgia suffered from civil, the countrys Western orientation soon led to the worsening of relations with Russia, culminating in the brief Russo-Georgian War in August 2008. Georgia is a member of the United Nations, the Council of Europe, and it contains two de facto independent regions, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which gained limited international recognition after the 2008 Russo-Georgian War. Georgia and a part of the international community consider the regions to be part of Georgias sovereign territory under Russian military occupation. Georgia probably stems from the Persian designation of the Georgians – gurğān, in the 11th and 12th centuries adapted via Syriac gurz-ān/gurz-iyān, starting with the Persian word gurğ/gurğān, the word was later adopted in numerous other languages, including Slavic and West European languages. This term itself might have established through the ancient Iranian appellation of the near-Caspian region. The self-designation used by ethnic Georgians is Kartvelebi, the medieval Georgian Chronicles present an eponymous ancestor of the Kartvelians, Kartlos, a great-grandson of Japheth. However, scholars agree that the word is derived from the Karts, the name Sakartvelo consists of two parts. Its root, kartvel-i, specifies an inhabitant of the core central-eastern Georgian region of Kartli, ancient Greeks and Romans referred to early western Georgians as Colchians and eastern Georgians as Iberians. Today the full, official name of the country is Georgia, before the 1995 constitution came into force the countrys name was the Republic of Georgia. The territory of modern-day Georgia was inhabited by Homo erectus since the Paleolithic Era, the proto-Georgian tribes first appear in written history in the 12th century BC. The earliest evidence of wine to date has found in Georgia. In fact, early metallurgy started in Georgia during the 6th millennium BC, the classical period saw the rise of a number of early Georgian states, the principal of which was Colchis in the west and Iberia in the east
3.
Air force
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An air force, also known in some countries as an air army, is in the broadest sense, the national military organization that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nations armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army, navy, or a marine corps. Typically, air forces are responsible for gaining control of the air, carrying out strategic and tactical bombing missions, Air forces typically consist of a combination of fighters, bombers, helicopters, transport planes and other aircraft. Many air forces are responsible for operations of the military space, intercontinental ballistic missiles. Some air forces may command and control other air defence assets such as artillery, surface-to-air missiles, or anti-ballistic missile warning networks. In addition to pilots, air forces have ground support staff who support the aircrew, however, some supporting personnel such as airfield defence troops, weapons engineers and air intelligence staff do not have equivalent roles in civilian organizations. Balloon or flying corps are not generally regarded as examples of an air force, however, with the invention of heavier-than-air craft in the early 20th century, armies and navies began to take interest in this new form of aviation as a means to wage war. The first aviation force in the world was the Aviation Militaire of the French Army formed in 1910, in 1911, during the Italo-Turkish War, Italy employed aircraft for the first time ever in the world for reconnaissance and bombing missions against Turkish positions on Libyan Territory. The Italian–Turkish war of 1911–1912 was the first in history that featured air attacks by airplanes, during World War I France, Germany, Italy, the British Empire and the Ottoman Empire all possessed significant forces of bombers and fighters. World War I also saw the appearance of senior commanders who directed aerial warfare, the British Royal Air Force was the first independent air force in the world. The RAF was founded on 1 April 1918 by amalgamation the British Armys Royal Flying Corps, on establishment the RAF comprised over 20,000 aircraft, was commanded by a Chief of the Air Staff who held the rank of major-general and was governed by its own government ministry. Over the following decades most countries with any military capability established their own independent air forces. The Canadian Air Force was formed at the end of World War I and it became the permanent Royal Canadian Air Force when it received the Royal title by royal proclamation on 1 April 1924. It did not however become independent of the Canadian Army until 1938 when its head was designated as Chief of the Air Staff. Similarly, the Royal New Zealand Air Force was established in 1923 as the New Zealand Permanent Air Force, other British-influenced countries also established their own independent air forces. For example, the Royal Egyptian Air Force was created in 1937 when Egyptian military aviation was separated from Army command, outside of the British Empire, the Finnish Air Force was established as a separate service on 4 May 1928 and the Brazilian Air Force was created in 1941. Both the United States Air Force and the Philippine Air Force were formed as a separate branches of their armed forces in 1947. The Israeli Air Force came into being with the State of Israel on 18 May 1948, the Japan Air Self-Defense Force was not established until 1954, in World War II Japanese military aviation had been carried out by the Army and Navy
4.
Tbilisi
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Tbilisi, commonly known by its former name Tiflis, is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of roughly 1.5 million inhabitants. Founded in the 5th century by the monarch of Georgias ancient precursor the Kingdom of Iberia, Tbilisi has since served, with intermissions, as the capital of various Georgian kingdoms and republics. Under Russian rule, from 1801 to 1917 Tiflis was the seat of the Imperial Viceroy governing both sides of the entire Caucasus. Tbilisis varied history is reflected in its architecture, which is a mix of medieval, classical, Middle Eastern, Art Nouveau, historically, Tbilisi has been home to people of diverse cultural, ethnic, and religious backgrounds, though it is overwhelmingly Eastern Orthodox Christian. Archaeological studies of the region have indicated human settlement in the territory of Tbilisi as early as the 4th millennium BC, according to an old legend, the present-day territory of Tbilisi was covered by forests as late as 458. One widely accepted variant of the legend of Tbilisis founding states that King Vakhtang I Gorgasali of Georgia went hunting in the wooded region with a falcon. The Kings falcon allegedly caught or injured a pheasant during the hunt, King Vakhtang became so impressed with the hot springs that he decided to cut down the forest and build a city on the location. The name Tbilisi derives from Old Georgian Tbilisi, and further from Tpili, the name Tbili or Tbilisi was therefore given to the city because of the areas numerous sulphuric hot springs that came out of the ground. King Dachi I Ujarmeli, who was the successor of Vakhtang I Gorgasali, Tbilisi was not the capital of a unified Georgian state at that time and did not include the territory of Colchis. It was, however, the city of Eastern Georgia/Iberia. During his reign, King Dachi I oversaw the construction of the wall that lined the citys new boundaries. From the 6th century, Tbilisi grew at a steady pace due to the favourable and strategic location which placed the city along important trade. Tbilisis favourable and strategic location did not necessarily bode well for its existence as Eastern Georgias/Iberias capital, in the year 627, Tbilisi was sacked by the Byzantine/Khazar armies and later, in 736–738, Arab armies entered the town under Marwan II Ibn-Muhammad. After this point, the Arabs established an emirate centered in Tbilisi, in 764, Tbilisi, still under Arab control was once again sacked by the Khazars. In 853, the armies of Arab leader Bugha Al-Turki invaded Tbilisi in order to enforce its return to Abbasid allegiance, the Arab domination of Tbilisi continued until about 1050. In 1068, the city was again sacked, only this time by the Seljuk Turks under Sultan Alp Arslan. In 1122, after fighting with the Seljuks that involved at least 60,000 Georgians and up to 300,000 Turks. After the battles for Tbilisi concluded, David moved his residence from Kutaisi to Tbilisi, making it the capital of a unified Georgian State, from 12–13th centuries, Tbilisi became a dominant regional power with a thriving economy and a well-established social system/structure
5.
Georgian Civil War
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While the Gamsakhurdia rebellion was eventually defeated, the South Ossetia and Abkhazia conflicts resulted in the de facto secession of both regions from Georgia. As a result, both conflicts have lingered on, with occasional flare-ups, ethnic minority separatist movements – primarily on the part of the Ossetians and the Abkhaz, demanded fuller recognition in the new order of the early 1990s. Asserting its newly gained national prerogatives, Georgia responded with military attempts to restrain separatism forcibly, on January 5,1991 Georgias National Guard entered Tskhinvali, South Ossetian capital and fighting broke out in and around the city. The Georgian-Ossetian Conflict was the first major crisis faced by Gamsakhurdias government, at the time of the dissolution of the USSR, the United States government recognized as legitimate the pre-Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact 1933 borders of the country. Because of this, the George H. W. Activity of the opposition against the Government of Zviad Gamsakhurdia caused a political dispute. Following the police dispersion of an opposition demonstration in Tbilisi on September 2, several oppositionists were arrested and their offices raided. The National Guard of Georgia, the paramilitary force in the country split into two, pro- and anti-Gamsakhurdia factions. Another powerful paramilitary organization, the Mkhedrioni led by Jaba Ioseliani also sided with the opposition, demonstrations and barricade-building marked the next three months. On 22 September, there were the first fatalities in Tbilisi, on September 24, state of emergency was declared in Tbilisi. On October 4 anti-Gamsakhurdia groups attacked the supporters of Gamsakhurdia, one supporter of the President was killed, by late October 1991, most of the leadership of the oppositional National Democratic Party, headed by Giorgi Chanturia, had been arrested. On 20 December 1991, Kitovanis fighters returned in force to begin the final onslaught against Gamsakhurdia, the armed oppositionists released Jaba Ioseliani, the leader of Mkhedrioni and mounted barricades in central Tbilisi. On December 22, the rebels seized several official buildings, and attacked the Parliament building where Gamsakhurdia, simultaneously, the rebels already controlling most of the city, brutally suppressed pro-Gamsakhurdia protests in and around Tbilisi. They fired on the crowds, killing and wounding several people, within several days of the fighting the main boulevard in the city, Rustaveli Avenue, had been destroyed and at least 113 people were killed. After the successful coup, a government, the Military Council, was formed in Georgia. The 1992 elections established Shevardnadze as the Chairman of Parliament and the Head of State, Zviad Gamsakhurdia, despite his absence, continued to enjoy substantial support within Georgia, especially in rural areas and in his home region of Samegrelo in western Georgia. The supporters of the president, the Zviadists, responded to the coup with spontaneous street demonstrations. One of the most serious occurred in Tbilisi on June 24,1992. However, they were out within a few hours by the National Guard
6.
Russo-Georgian War
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The Russo-Georgian War was a war between Georgia, Russia and the Russian-backed self-proclaimed republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. The war took place in August 2008 following a period of worsening relations between Russia and Georgia, both constituent republics of the Soviet Union. The fighting took place in the strategically important Transcaucasia region, which borders the Middle East and it was regarded as the first European war of the 21st century. The Republic of Georgia declared its independence in early 1991 as the Soviet Union began to fall apart, following the war, a joint peacekeeping force of Georgian, Russian, and Ossetian troops was stationed in the territory. Meanwhile, a stalemate developed in the region of Abkhazia. By August 1,2008, Ossetian separatists began shelling Georgian villages, to put an end to these deadly attacks and restore order, the Georgian Army was sent to the South Ossetian conflict zone on 7 August. Georgians took control of most of Tskhinvali, a separatist stronghold, Georgia later stated it was also responding to Russia moving non-peacekeeping units into the country. Russia accused Georgia of aggression against South Ossetia, and launched a land, air. Russian and Ossetian forces battled Georgian forces in and around South Ossetia for several days, Russian and Abkhaz forces opened a second front by attacking the Kodori Gorge held by Georgia. Russian naval forces blockaded part of the Georgian coast and this was the first war in history in which cyber warfare coincided with military action. An active information war was waged during and after the conflict. President of France Nicolas Sarkozy negotiated an agreement on 12 August. Russian forces temporarily occupied the Georgian cities of Zugdidi, Senaki, Poti, the South Ossetians destroyed most ethnic Georgian villages in South Ossetia and were responsible for an ethnic cleansing of Georgians. Russia recognised Abkhazia and South Ossetia as separate republics on 26 August, in response, Russia mostly completed its withdrawal of troops from Georgia proper on 8 October. In the aftermath, Russias international relations were largely unharmed, the war displaced 192,000 people and while many returned to their homes after the war,20,272 people remained displaced as of 2014. Russia has, since the war, occupied Abkhazia and South Ossetia in violation of the agreement of August 2008. In the tenth century AD, Georgia for the first time emerged as a concept in the territories where the Georgian language was used to perform Christian rituals. After the Mongol invasions of the region, the Kingdom of Georgia eventually was broken up into several kingdoms, in the nineteenth century, the Russian Empire gradually annexed the Georgian lands
7.
Attack aircraft
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This class of aircraft is designed mostly for close air support and naval air-to-surface missions, overlapping the tactical bomber mission. Designs dedicated to non-naval roles are often known as ground-attack aircraft, Strike fighters, which have effectively replaced the fighter-bomber and light bomber concepts, also differ little from the broad concept of an attack aircraft. The dedicated attack aircraft as a separate class existed primarily during, the precise implementation varied from country to country, and was handled by a wide variety of designs. In the US and UK, attack aircraft were based on light bombers, sometimes carrying heavier forward-firing weapons like the B-25G. In Germany and USSR, where they were known as schlachtflugzeug or sturmovik, in the late-war era, the fighter-bomber began to take over many attack roles, a change that continued in the post-war era. Jet powered examples were relatively rare, but not unknown, like the Blackburn Buccaneer, the US Navy continued to introduce new aircraft in their A-series, but these were purely light and medium bombers. Since the 1960s, only two dedicated attack aircraft designs have been introduced, the US A-10 Thunderbolt II and Soviet Sukhoi Su-25 Frogfoot. One oddity belonging to class is the AC-130, which features as its primary armament high-caliber artillery guns adapted for aircraft use. A variety of attack aircraft exist, usually based on adapted trainers or other light fixed-wing aircraft. Presently, U. S. attack aircraft are identified by the prefix A-, as in A-6 Intruder, however, until the end of World War II the A- designation was shared between attack planes and light bombers for the Army aircraft. The US Navy used a separate system and at the time preferred to call similar aircraft scout bombers or torpedo bombers. For example, Douglas SBD Dauntless scout bomber was designated A-24 when used by the USAAF. It was not until 1946, when the US Navy and US Marine Corps started using the attack designation, as with many aircraft classifications, the definition of attack aircraft is somewhat vague and has tended to change over time. Current U. S. military doctrine defines it as an aircraft which most likely performs an attack mission, Attack mission means, in turn, specifically tactical air-to-ground action—in other words, neither air-to-air action nor strategic bombing is considered an attack mission. In United States Navy vocabulary, the designation for the same activity is a strike mission. Attack missions are divided into two categories, air interdiction and close air support. In the last several decades, the rise of the ubiquitous multi-role fighter has created confusion about the difference between attack and fighter aircraft. According to the current U. S. designation system, an aircraft is designed primarily for air-to-surface
8.
Mil Mi-24
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The Mil Mi-24 is a large helicopter gunship, attack helicopter and low-capacity troop transport with room for eight passengers. It is produced by Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant and has operated since 1972 by the Soviet Air Force and its successors. In NATO circles, the versions, Mi-25 and Mi-35, are denoted with a letter suffix as Hind D. Soviet pilots called the Mi-24 the flying tank, a term used historically with the famous World War II Soviet Il-2 Shturmovik armored ground attack aircraft. More common unofficial nicknames were Crocodile, due to the camouflage scheme and Drinking Glass. The first expression of this concept was a mock-up unveiled in 1966 in the shop of the Ministry of Aircrafts factory number 329. The mock-up designated V-24 was based on project, the V-22 utility helicopter. Mil proposed the design to the heads of the Soviet armed forces, while he had the support of a number of strategists, he was opposed by several more senior members of the armed forces, who believed that conventional weapons were a better use of resources. Despite the opposition, Mil managed to persuade the defence ministers first deputy, Marshal Andrey A. Grechko, while the panels opinions were mixed, supporters of the project eventually held sway and a request for design proposals for a battlefield support helicopter was issued. Mil engineers prepared two basic designs, a 7-ton single-engine design and a 10. 5-ton twin-engine design, both based on the 1,700 hp Izotov TV3-177A turboshaft. Later, three complete mock-ups were produced, along with five cockpit mock-ups to allow the pilot and weapon station operator positions to be fine-tuned, the Kamov design bureau suggested an army version of their Ka-25 ASW helicopter as a low-cost option. This was considered but later dropped in favor of the new Mil twin-engine design, a directive was issued on 6 May 1968 to proceed with the development of the twin-engine design. Work proceeded under Mil until his death in 1970, detailed design work began in August 1968 under the codename Yellow 24. A full-scale mock-up of the design was reviewed and approved in February 1969, flight tests with a prototype began on 15 September 1969 with a tethered hover, and four days later the first free flight was conducted. A second prototype was built, followed by a test batch of ten helicopters, acceptance testing for the design began in June 1970, continuing for 18 months. Changes made in the design addressed structural strength, fatigue problems, the tail rotor was moved from the right to the left side of the tail, and the rotation direction reversed. The tail rotor now rotated up on the side towards the front of the aircraft, into the downwash of the rotor, in 1972, following completion of the Mi-24, development began on a unique attack helicopter with transport capability. In October 2007, the Russian Air Force announced it would replace its Mi-24 fleet with Mi-28Ns, the core of the aircraft was derived from the Mil Mi-8 with two top-mounted turboshaft engines driving a mid-mounted 17.3 m five-blade main rotor and a three-blade tail rotor
9.
Sukhoi Su-25
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The Sukhoi Su-25 Grach is a single-seat, twin-engine jet aircraft developed in the Soviet Union by the Sukhoi Design Bureau. It was designed to close air support for the Soviet Ground Forces. The first prototype made its flight on 22 February 1975. After testing, the aircraft went into production in 1978 at Tbilisi in the Soviet Republic of Georgia. Early variants included the Su-25UB two-seat trainer, the Su-25BM for target-towing, some aircraft were being upgraded to Su-25SM standard in 2012. The Su-25T and the Su-25TM were further developments, not produced in significant numbers, the Su-25, and the Su-34, were the only armoured, fixed-wing aircraft in production in 2007. Su-25s are in service with Russia, other CIS states, the type has seen combat in several conflicts during its more than 30 years in service. It was heavily involved in the Soviet war in Afghanistan, flying missions against the Mujahideen. The Iraqi Air Force employed Su-25s against Iran during the 1980–88 Iran–Iraq War, most were later destroyed or flown to Iran in the 1991 Persian Gulf War. Abkhazian separatists used Su-25s during the Abkhazian War from 1992 to 1993, the Macedonian Air Force used Su-25s against Albanian insurgents in the 2001 Macedonia conflict and, in 2008, Georgia and Russia both used Su-25s in the Russo-Georgian War. African states, including the Ivory Coast, Chad, and Sudan have used the Su-25 in local insurgencies, recently the Su-25 has seen service in the Russian intervention in the Syrian Civil War. In early 1968, the Soviet Ministry of Defence decided to develop a specialised shturmovik armoured assault aircraft in order to close air support for the Soviet Ground Forces. The idea of creating a ground-support aircraft came about after analysing the experience of aviation during the 1940s, 1950s. The Soviet fighter-bombers in service or under development at the time did not meet the requirements for air support of the army. In March 1969, a competition was announced by the Soviet Air Force that called for designs for a new battlefield close-support aircraft, participants in the competition were the Sukhoi Design Bureau and the Design Bureaus of Yakovlev, Ilyushin and Mikoyan. Sukhoi finalised its T-8 design in late 1968, and began in work on the first two prototypes in January 1972, the T8-1, the first airframe to be assembled, was completed on 9 May 1974. However, it did not make its first flight until 22 February 1975, the Su-25 surpassed its main competitor in the Soviet Air Force competition, the Ilyushin Il-102, and series production was announced by the Ministry of Defence. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, several Su-25 variants appeared, including modernised versions, the most significant designs were the Su-25UB dual-seat trainer, the Su-25BM target-towing variant, and the Su-25T for antitank missions
Georgia
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