U.S.-Georgian military exercise Agile Spirit 2017 is to kick off on September 3 at the Orpolo firing range, close to the town of Akhaltsikhe in Samtskhe-Javakheti region of Georgia.

Troops from the Georgian Armed Forces and the U.S. Marine Corps Europe, as well as from Bulgaria, Latvia, Romania, Ukraine and Armenia will participate in the exercise, according to the Ministry of Defense of Georgia.

The exercise includes field and staff training components and its key purpose is to improve Georgia’s interoperability with the United States and other partner countries within NATO Response Force.

Exercises will also be held at the armored tank training center in Akhaltsikhe and last until September 11.

Agile Spirit was initially a bilateral U.S.-Georgian military exercise held annually in Georgia since 2011 at the Vaziani military base close to Tbilisi, but since 2015 a number of other countries have joined the exercise. 

Agile Spirit comes three weeks after the end of the Noble Partner drills, a major annual military exercise held by the Georgian and U.S. forces together with NATO member and partner nations.