Emergenceofthearmedforcesfrom thecolonialperiod

In any country, the armed forces are the pillars of strength which gives the assurance that the security of every citizen is ensured. For Sri Lanka, the Army, the Navy and the Air Force made the nation proud by defeating terrorism in May 2009, signaling the country will speed its drive towards prosperity. But since we gained independence they have made every possible way to protect the lives of the people.

Ceylon Army to Sri Lanka Army

When World War 2 ended, the task of returning the enormously swollen wartime Ceylon Defence Force (CDF) to its normal proportions began and by 1948 came independence and in 1949, the Army Act was passed in Parliament raising the Ceylon Army, composed of Regular and Volunteer Forces.

Many of the old units of the Volunteer Force still exist inthearmyexceptafewwhichweredisbandedfromtime to time. The Volunteer Force has since then grown and it is this Force that supplements the Regular Force when the requirement arises. Since the outbreak of hostilities in Northern Sri Lanka, the Volunteer Force, has been working shoulder to shoulder with the Regular Units engaged in counter insurgency operations.

With a view to raising our own Regular Force to the country, Sir Kanthiah Vaithianathan C.E.B., the first Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Defence and External Affairs, the island of Ceylon was endowed with a Regular Force under the Command of Brigadier Roderick Sinclair on October 10,1949 under the Army Act No. 17 of 1949.

The first batch of Officer Cadets from our own citizenry was sent to the Royal Military Academy in Sandhurst in January 1950. A British Army Training Team was established in salubrious climes at Diyatalawa to give refresher training for Officers, Non Commissioned Officers and Recruits in the new Regular Force.

The Ceylon Army, commanded by many able and eminent personnel has then onwards performed its duties not only in ceremonial form but also in other areas of state requirement. This situation compelled the expansion of the Army command strata islandwide which in turn resulted in emergence of Area Headquarters under command to respective Area Commanders. Palaly, Anuradhapura, Kandy, Boossa, Diyatalawa and Panagoda enveloped the security of the whole of the island operatingfromthosemilitarycommandbases.

The initial requirement was to raise an artillery regiment, an engineer squadron, an infantry battalion, a medical unit, and a service corps company. For much of the 1950s the army was preoccupied with the task of building itself and training existing and new personnel. To this aim the British Army Training Team (BATT) advisory group carried out training for ex-members of the CDF within the Ceylon Army, senior officers were sent to the British Army Staff College, Camberley and some attached to units of the British Army of the Rhine to gain field experience. New officers were sent for training at Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst which continued until the 1960s.

Today the Sri Lanka Army is the oldest and largest of the Sri Lanka Armed Forces and is responsible for landbased military and humanitarian operations. Established as the Ceylon Army in 1949, it was renamed when Sri Lanka became a republic in 1972. As of the year 2010, the Army is believed to have approximately 200,000 regular personnel, approximately between 20,000-40,000 reserve personnel and 18,000 National Guardsmen and comprises 13 operational divisions, one air-mobile brigade, one commando brigade, one special forces brigade, one independent armored brigade, three mechanized infantry brigades and over 40 infantry brigades.

Royal Ceylon Navy to Sri Lanka Navy

The Sri Lankan Navy is classed as the most vital defence force of Sri Lanka, due to the country’s island geography. The current Sri Lankan Navy was established on 9 December 1950 when the Navy Act was passed for the formation of the Royal Ceylon Navy. The roots of the modern Sri Lankan Navy dates back to 1937 when the Ceylon Naval Volunteer Force was established, which was renamed and absorbed into the Royal Navy as the Ceylon Royalnavalvolunteerreserveduringworldwarii.

In recent years it has played a key role during the war by conducting surveillance and patrol, amphibious and supply operations. During the war the navy moved from a small force focused on coastal patrols to a large combat force concentrating on asymmetric naval warfare capable of amphibious and land operations in support of counterinsurgency operation at the progressed into engagements of a new form of warfare. It carried out expeditionary deployments in Indian Ocean in-order to intercept rogue arm-shipments in the high seas. The navy has its own elite Special Forces unit, the Special Boat Squadron.

The Sri Lanka Navy has a number of off shore patrol vessels, missile boats, patrol boats, landing ships/craft and a large number of littoral craft, along with 6 auxiliary vessels. Its personnel number is close to 48,000.

After Independence from British rule in 1948 the government believed that the island nation should possess a strong navy to be its first line of defence. Therefore on 9 December 1950 the Royal Ceylon Navy was created with Ceylon Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve forming the nucleus.

Thefirstwarshipwascommissionedhmcysvijaya,an Algerian class Minesweeper, EX-HMS Flying Fish along with other patrol boats and tugs. Later the fleet was expanded with, HMCYS Parakram another Algerian class Minesweeper (EX-HMS Pickle), two Canadian built “River” class Frigates HMCYS Mahasena (EX-HMCS Violetta, Orkney and ex-israeli ship Mivtach), HMCYS Gajabahu (EX-HMCS Hallowell, ex-israeli Misnak) and Oceangoingtug(ex-hmsadept).

At the beginning of the war in the 1980s the navy found itself poorly equipped to face the new threats the LTTE created. But this was soon overcome by increasing the fleet of patrol boats and the introduction of fast attack crafts. These proved highly successful in limiting the LTTE’S use of the seas. The weapon systems on these were upgraded with time as the sea Tigers resorted to using sophisticated suicide crafts against naval crafts. In addition two locally build Jayasagara class Off Shore Patrol Craft added to the fleet to carry out anti-smuggling operations and coastal surveillance.

During this time the navy took part in its first amphibious operation in its history. The size of the force along with the fleet increased in the years of war. In the early 80’s a land combat force was created witch at first limited itself to base defense and as its numbers increased took part in offensive operations against the LTTE along with the Sri Lankan Army. An elite naval special forces unit called the Special Boat Squadron was created in the late 80’s based on the British Special Boat Service. In early 1990s the SLN carried out injunction with the army its first amphibious operation code named Operation Sea Breeze followed by the lager Operation Balavegaya an year later and on the seas it began an aggressive clamp down on LTTE actives including gunrunning. It was during this time in 1992 Admiral Clancy Fernando, the commander of the navy was assassinated by a suicide bomb attack by the LTTE.

During the late part of the 1990s the navy expanded its fleet of patrol boats to counter sea tiger crafts and intercept arms shipments destine for the tigers within Sri Lankan territorial waters. In 2000 the Navy started a fleet air arm (FAA) by acquiring a HAL Chetak from India to expand its surveillance capability by operating from newly acquired Offshore Patrol Vessels. During the same time conventional warfare capability was increased by the addition of missile boats.

Following the resumptions of hostilities between the government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE since early 2006, the navy took up an active role in limiting the LTTE’S use of the seas.

This resulted in several major sea battles during the course of 2006, 2007 and 2009. Most significant of the events during this time were the interception and sinking of several large cargo ships that were bringing illegal arms shipments to the LTTE in the Indian Ocean in inter- national waters. These naval operations have proven the blue water capability of the Sri Lankan Navy.

The Royal Ceylon Air Force to Sri Lanka Air Force

The Royal Ceylon Air Force was born on March 2, 1951. The founding of the Royal Ceylon Air Force began with the presentation of Bill No. 41 of 1949, which was presented to Ceylon’s House of Representatives.

The Bill was read in the House for the second time on 30th August 1949. The Bill provided for a Regular Air Force, a Regular Air Force Reserve, a Volunteer Air Force and a Volunteer Air Force Reserve. The RCYAF thus becametheyoungestof thedefenceservicesof Ceylon.

The British Government seconded Group Captain Graham Clerke Bladon to set up the RCYAF, and commanditthroughitsformativeyears.

The blip of terrorism bore down heavily on the Army, Police and the Navy and the Air Force had a correspondingly heavy workload in support of the ground and sea war effort, with air transport and reconnaissance, plus a fledgling flutter of attack capability. At the time the Government of Sri Lanka found it increasingly difficult to obtain the military hardware and ancillary services and equipment required to fight a war. There weren’t many countries willing to supply Air Force requirements. The escalation of terrorism also meant that the Air Force had to further develop and utilize its outlying airfields. From the peacetime concentration on Katunayake, China Bay and Diyatalawa, the SLAF had to mount operational flying into the conflict areas from their airfields in Palali, Vavuniya, China Bayandanuradhapura.

With the escalating threat of terrorism from the mid-eighties onwards and the induction of new aircraft and weaponry, the Logistics directorate began to establish Supply and Air Movements Squadrons i n key bases such as Anuradhapura, China Bay and Ratmalana. Air Vice Marshal Duncan Dissanayake played a key role in setting up the Air Movements Squadron at Ratmalana, and also Refueling Sections at all Air Force Bases.

There was an increased demand for repairs on a more varied and numerous fleet, a stock of spares had to be held in forward locations, to facilitate running repairs and a quick turnaround of aircraft to facilitate operations. The forward supply demands increased, requiring immediate supplies of equipment at locations far away from the main stock holding centres.

The skies over Sri Lanka last reverberated to the roar of fast jet aircraft way back in the 1980’s. Then it was the MIG 17 jets that represented the fast jet capabilities of the SLAF. Once the MIG’S were decommissioned in 1980, no more jets were inducted to the fleet for quite some time. In 1991 the SLAF began fast jet operations again, with the acquisition of Chinese F7 jets in the fighter/ground attack category. The F series jets were Chinese produced derivatives of the Russian MIGS from the Mikoyan Guryevichdesignbureau.

With the influx of the jets, No. 5 Jet Squadron was formed on 1st February 1991 and was based at Katunayake. The role designated for the attack aircraft, the F7BS, was mainly close air support for ground operations, and on requirement, in interceptor and reconnaissance mode. In the year 1991 the SLAF inducted ten other aircraft in addition to the F series jets, viz. 9 Siai Marchetti Sf260warriorsand1avro.

Apart from the role it played in the air, the SLAF found itself committed on the ground as well in 1992. The Air Force was called upon to secure a section of the Main Supply Route (MSR) to Trincomalee, and to protect villages in the Trincomalee, Vavuniya and Ampara Districts. The SLAF deployed 70 Officers and 2,000 Airmen to meet this contingency.

The mission of the organization is to achieve professional excellence in rapid mobility and precision engagement by developing core capabilities based on technological superiority, to ensure readiness and operational success in exploiting the competent human resources and equipment of the Sri Lanka Air Force.

Since the start of the civil war the SLAF used its combat aircraft in a groundattack role to attack LTTE targets in the then Ltte-controlled areas in the northern and eastern parts of the island. Following confirmation that the LTTE was using several light weight aircraft in 2006, the SLAF expanded its air defence capabilities which had been neglected for years. Extensive air defense radar network was established and ground based air defence strengthened. Airborne interception of the LTTE light aircraft were developed using both fixed wing and rotary wing aircraft until dedicated interceptors were acquired.