Defense Minister, Irakli Alasania, said he would discuss potential “joint projects” with Ankara in defense industry sphere during his visit to Turkey this week.

“We are opening a huge prospects for cooperation with Turkey, which has a very serious military industry. I will be leaving for Turkey on Thursday evening… and we may implement joint projects in military [industry],” Alasania told the Georgian Public Broadcaster on May 8.

“I hope that the potential which our [military industrial complex] Delta has will be used and we will be able to agree on efficient cooperation in this regard with Turkey, as well as with other countries,” he added.

Azeri-Press Agency reported earlier this month quoting unnamed Azerbaijani “military sources” that Tbilisi had offered Baku to set up a joint venture to produce “modernized versions” of Su-25 (Frogfoot) ground attack aircraft at the Tbilisi Aircraft Manufacturing (TbilAviaMsheni, or TAM).

TAM, which was privatized in 2004, was regained back by the state in 2010 as part of the government’s drive to develop domestic military industrial complex. TAM is now part of military research-technical center Delta under the Ministry of Defense (MoD). Since then Delta has developed, among others, infantry fighting vehicle Lazika and wheeled armored vehicle Didgori.