Sri Lanka Air Force

The first aircraft of the RCyAF were de Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunks used as basic trainers to train the first batches of pilots locally while several cadets were sent to Royal Air Force College Cranwell.The Government of Ceylon maintained friendly relations with neighbouring countries such as India, perceived the risk of air intrusion low.Defence expenditure was cut drastically in the early 1960s as a result of both foreign exchange crisis and an attempt military coup in 1962.The RCyAF did receive a few aircraft in the 1960s, most notably American Bell JetRanger helicopters and by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited HAL-26 Pushpak given by India.The Ceylon Armed Forces were caught off guard; police stations island-wide and the RCyAF base at Ekala were attacked in the initial wave.Responding rapidly the RCyAF deployed its limited aircraft, at first to resupply besieged police stations, military outposts and patrol around major cities.The RAF's heavy transports also flew in six Bell 47G helicopters purchased from the United States, which were put into combat as soon as possible after only five days of pilot training.It received five Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17F fighter bombers and a MiG-15 UTI trainer, as well as two Kamov Ka-26 helicopters meant for search and rescue and casualty evacuation from the Soviet Union.By the early 1980s the Provosts and all of the Soviet aircraft had been taken out of active service and placed in long-term storage, leaving the air force without any fighter/bomber capability.Rapid growth began in the mid-1980s, when the Sri Lankan Civil War against LTTE drew the service into a major, long-term security role.After the purchase of equipment from Canada in 1986, the air force gained the capability to make structural repairs on its fleet of Bell helicopters, several of which had been damaged in operations against the Tamil separatists.After the Conflict started, the government worked rapidly to expand the SLAF inventory, relying largely on sources in Italy, Britain, and the United States.Because of tight budget constraints, the SLAF was compelled to refit a number of non-combat aircraft for military uses in counter-terrorism operations against Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) terrorists.Sri Lanka's international airport has remained on alert for a repeat of the 2001 attack, with severe restrictions on the number of people allowed into the terminal buildings.Huge walls were built around the terminals and the control towers to prevent impact from car bomb attacks, and many sentries were placed along the approach roads to the facility.Since the start of the civil war the SLAF used its combat aircraft in a ground-attack 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.In the early hours of October 22, 2007 a ground attack by the LTTE on SLAF Anuradhapura at Saliyapura, which was supported briefly by its air wing, resulted in the destruction of eight aircraft with several others damaged.[15] In the last stages of the civil war the SLAF flew its highest number of sorties providing close air support of ground and naval forces and carried out pinpoint bombing on identified targets.[18] In April 2015, following the earthquake in Nepal the Sri Lankan government responded by deploying relief contingents from the armed services including teams from the air force.[35] With the end of the civil war, the SLAF changed its priorities and set a long-term goal of modernizing its aircraft and developing its air defence capability.[41][42][43][44] In December 2017, Janes reported that the Sri Lankan government was in talks with IAI for the upgrade and return to service of five of its Kfirs which had been grounded since a mid air collision in 2011.Five Kfir C2/C7/TC2 will be updated to a near Block 60 standard in a deal worth US$49 million with Israel Aerospace Industries, with an expected service life of 15 years.The work will be done in Sri Lanka by SLAF personal over two years, with upgraded avionics and the provision for advanced radar, sensors and helmets in the future.[52][53][54][55][56] In February 2022, the US Government agreed to provide two Beechcraft 360ER on a gratis basis under a foreign military sales contract to enhance the SLAF's maritime reconnaissance capability.The SLAF intends to have the first models entering service by the end of 2021 and implement lessons learnt in the design of the Lihiniya II UAV.[77][78] National Air Defence System's main radar station situated at the Pidurutalagala tallest mountain in Sri Lanka, at 2,524 m (8,281 ft).In addition, a number of cadet officers received flight training at the Royal Air Force College in Cranwell, in Lincolnshire, England.On 2 March 2024, SLAF honoured and commemorated the exemplary service rendered by the Mi-24 helicopters during the Sri Lankan Civil War, subsequent to their introduction in 1995.This act of recognition was symbolised by the unveiling of a monument situated in the vicinity of the Defence Headquarters Complex, Akuregoda, Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte.