Sri Lanka Armed Forces
Sri Lanka Armed Forces | |
---|---|
Service branches | Sri Lanka Army Sri Lanka Navy Sri Lanka Air Force |
Headquarters | Colombo |
Leadership | |
Supreme Commander | President Ranil Wickremesinghe |
Minister of Defence | President Ranil Wickremesinghe |
Secretary of Defence | General Kamal Gunaratne (Retd.) |
Chief of the Defence Staff | General Shavendra Silva |
Personnel | |
Military age | 18 years of age |
Conscription | None |
Available for military service | 5,342,147 males, age 16-49 (2010 est.), 5,466,409 females, age 16-49 (2010 est.) |
Fit for military service | 4,177,432 males, age 16-49 (2010 est.), 4,574,833 females, age 16-49 (2010 est.) |
Reaching military age annually | 167,026 males (2010 est.), 162,587 females (2010 est.) |
Active personnel | 346,000 (ranked 14th) |
Reserve personnel | 90,000 |
Deployed personnel | 18,000 (UN peace keeping) |
Expenditures | |
Budget | US$ 1.45 billion (2023) [1] |
Percent of GDP | 1.93% (2020) |
Industry | |
Domestic suppliers | SLEME Colombo Dockyard |
Foreign suppliers | People's Republic of China Russia India Pakistan[2] Israel United States United Kingdom |
Annual exports | India[3] Second JVP Insurrection
Sri Lankan Civil War |
Ranks | Air Force |
The Sri Lanka Armed Forces is the overall unified military of the
History
Sri Lanka has a military history going back to more than 2000 years. The roots of the modern Sri Lankan military lead back to the colonial era when the Portuguese, Dutch and British established local militias to support their wars against the local Kingdoms. The British created the Ceylon Rifle Regiment during the Kandyan wars. Although it had natives in its ranks, it was largely composed of Malays. It was disbanded in 1873.[5]
Imperial service
The lineage of the Sri Lanka Armed Forces dates back to 1881, when the British created a volunteer reserve on the island named the
Dominion of Ceylon
Following the establishment of the Dominion of Ceylon with Britain granting independence in 1948, work began to establish a regular military. The Army Act No. 17 of 1949 was passed by Parliament on 11 April 1949 and formalized in the Gazette Extraordinary No. 10028 of 10 October 1949. This marked the creation of the
The growth of the Ceylon Armed Forces was slow due to lack of foreign threat, since Ceylon maintained cordial relations with its neighbor India and had a defence treaty with Britain. In the 1950s it was mainly employed in
First JVP Insurrection
The
Republic of Sri Lanka
In 1972, Ceylon became the independent socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, with it the Ceylon Armed Forces became known as the Sri Lanka Armed Forces as the Ceylon Army became the Sri Lanka Army, the Royal Ceylon Navy became the Sri Lanka Navy and the Royal Ceylon Air Force became the Sri Lanka Air Force.[6]
Sri Lankan Civil War and the Second JVP Insurrection
By the early 1980s, the Sri Lanka Armed Forces mobilized against the insurgency of
This led to India intervening by entering Sri Lankan air space to carry out food drops. Shortly afterward the
The military was redistricted to its bases but was soon involved in another insurrection by the JVP in the south of the island from 1987 to 1989. In the north, tension increased with the
In 1994, a brief
In 2002, a new Cease-Fire Agreement (CFA) was established with Norwegian mediation and peace talks began. The
Some defense reforms also commenced in 2002 when the Prime Minister established the Defence Review Committee (DRC) which formulated extensive recommendations that encapsulate force modernization as well as the restructuring of command and control in ways that would make the army more responsive to civil control.[8] The first task of the Committee was to assess the Higher Defence Organisation, given the decision by the President to relinquish the defense portfolio. When a paper drafted by the Committee was inadvertently made public, concerns were raised that the Committee's recommendations for restructuring Higher Defence Organisation might be constitutionally flawed in relation to the role of the President as Commander-in-Chief of the Sri Lankan armed forces. Although the work of the Committee thereafter proceeded apace, the DRC itself became a political football amidst the growing tension between the President and the Prime Minister. In 2003 the President took the decision to bring an end to the work of the DRC and, instead, assigned the task of SSR to the Joint Operations Headquarters, since when little progress has been evident.
In April 2006 following a suicide bomb attack on the Commander of the Army, airstrikes began followed by skirmishes, however, both the government and the LTTE claimed that the ceasefire was still in place. The offensive by the Armed Forces was launched when the LTTE closed the sluice gates of the Mavil Aru reservoir on 21 July and cut the water supply to 15,000 villages in government controlled areas. This led to several major attacks by the LTTE in the eastern province and the north. The Armed Forces went on the offensive successfully recapturing LTTE control areas in the eastern province during 2007. By then the LTTE had been proscribed as a terrorist organisation by 32 countries.[9]
In 2017 Sri Lanka Armed Forced deployed nearly 10,000 personnel and equipment for relief, help and rescue operations of 2017 Sri Lanka floods. This is the biggest military deployment of the peacetime.[10]
On 3 January 2008 the government informed Norway of its decision to quit the ceasefire, with it the ceasefire officially ended on 16 January 2008, following several bombings in the capital. Along with the ceasefire operations of the SLMM also ended.[11]
During 2008 there was heavy fighting in the northern province where the Sri Lanka Armed Forces launched major offensives and succeeded in recapturing LTTE controlled areas of the Mannar District, the Vavuniya District and moving into the Mullaitivu District and Kilinochchi District. During December 2008, the Sri Lankan Armed Forces were engaged in offensives on all fronts, with heavy fighting around Kilinochchi (where the LTTE had its headquarters) and close to Mullaitivu.
In early 2009 the Armed Forces recaptured in quick succession Kilinochchi and the strategically important Elephant Pass. Thus establishing a land route to the government controlled Jaffna Peninsula which had been supplied by sea and air for over 10 years after its recapture in 1995. Shortly thereafter Mullaitivu was recaptured by the 59th Division of the SLA. Boxed into a small land area north of Mullaitivu, the LTTE with its remaining cadres and leadership was effectively trapped, with this land mass being slowly reduced until May 2009.
On 19 May 2009, the Sri Lanka Armed Forces won its final battle against the LTTE with the death of several LTTE leaders, including its head Velupillai Prabhakaran while he was attempting to flee.[12]
On 22 May 2009, Sri Lankan Defence Secretary
The Armed Forces along with the LTTE have been accused of committing
Major operations of Sri Lanka armed forces
- 1971 JVP insurrection
- 1987–89 JVP insurrection
- Vadamarachchi Operation
- Operation Balavegaya
- Operation Riviresa
- 2008 SLA Northern offensive
Funding
Year | Appropriated endowment (Billion) Rs | Supplementary funding (Billion) Rs | Cumulative expenditure (Billion) Rs |
---|---|---|---|
1948 | - | - | |
1988 | 5 | - | 5 |
1989 | 4 | - | 9 |
1990 | 7 | - | 16 |
1991 | 11 | - | 27 |
1992 | 14 | - | 41 |
1993 | 17 | - | 58 |
1994 | 21 | - | 79 |
1995 | 39 | - | 118 |
1996 | 42 | - | 160 |
1997 | 41 | - | 201 |
1998 | 47 | - | 248 |
1999 | 44 | - | 292 |
2000 | 63 | - | 355 |
2001 | 60 | - | 415 |
2002 | 54 | - | 469 |
2003 | 52 | - | 521 |
2004 | 62 | - | 583 |
2005 | 64 | - | 647 |
2006 | 82 | - | 729 |
2007 | 140[19] | - | 869 |
2008 | 166[20] | - | 1035 |
2009 | 175 | 39 | 1249 |
2010 | 273 | None | 1552 |
2011 | 214 | 20 | 1756 |
2012 | 230 | None | 1986 |
2013 | 290 | None | 2276 |
2014 | 253 | None | 2529 |
2015 | 285[21] | None | 2814 |
2016 | 307[22] | None | 3121 |
2017 | 284[23] | None | 3405 |
2018 | 290 | None | 3695 |
2019 | 392 | None | 4087 |
Strategic importance
The posture of the military has been defensive due to the nature of the strategic threats to Sri Lanka. In the short-term, internal security is considered the main threat to the nation's future. In the long-term, the threat is seen as primarily external from current and future
Command organization
As
The Ministry of Defence is responsible for the management of the forces, while the planning and execution of
Deployments in peacekeeping missions
Ceylon's first invovlment in United Nations peacekeeping took place in 1957 in the wake of the Suez Crisis as the United Nations General Assembly moved to form an Advisory Committee to plan the deployment of what was going to be the United Nations Emergency Force. Ceylon was a member of the Advisory Committee and offered a peacekeeping contingent.[24]
First peacekeeping deployment of the island's armed forces took place in 1960, when Ceylon held the Commonwealth Seat as a Non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. Six peacekeepers were dispatch to the United Nations Operation in the Congo which was the first major peacekeeping operation undertaken by the United Nations.[25][26] This was followed by a second contingent in 1961.[27]
The Sri Lanka restarted contributing to UN peacekeeping missions with the deployment of an
MINUSTAH was followed by deployments of a
Country | Army | Navy | Air Force |
---|---|---|---|
UNIFIL ) |
149 | - | - |
DR Congo (MONUSCO) | 4 | - | - |
MINUSMA ) |
203 | - | - |
Abyei ( UNISFA ) |
6 | - | - |
UNMISS ) |
71 | - | 102 |
Central African Republic (MINUSCA) | 7 | - | 109 |
Western Sahara ( MINURSO ) |
4 | - | - |
New York Mission | 3 | - | - |
Total | 443 | 0 | 211 |
Army
The Sri Lanka Army is the oldest and largest of Sri Lanka's three armed services. Established as the Royal Ceylon Army in 1949, it was renamed when Sri Lanka became a republic in 1972. The Army of approximately 255,000 regular and reserve personnel including 90,000 National Guardsmen and is responsible for overseeing land-based military and humanitarian operations.
At present the army has deployed 12 divisions and forming 4 more in while carrying out combat operations. Since 2004 the Sri Lankan Army maintains a battalion and support units of around 1000 personnel in the United Nations peacekeeping operations.
The Sri Lankan Navy with approximately 48,000 personal is the key maritime division of the Sri Lankan Armed Forces and is classed as the most vital defence force of Sri Lanka. It conducts maritime operations at sea for the defence of the Sri Lankan nation and its interests. The professional head of the navy is the
In recent years it had played a key role it the
Air Force
The Sri Lanka Air Force with approximately 28,700 personal is the aerial defense division and the youngest of the Sri Lankan Tri Forces. Founded in 1951 as the Royal Ceylon Air Force, it relied on the British Royal Air Force for its earliest equipment, training, and leadership. The Air Force played a major role in the war against Tamil separatists. Although Sri Lanka is only a small island state, its Air Force has proven highly capable and efficient. In recent times the air force has expanded to specialize mainly in providing air-support to ground forces and landing troops and carrying airstrikes on rebel held areas in the Northern and Eastern provinces.
Paramilitary forces
There are two official paramilitary forces under the command of the Ministry of Defence, as well as another under the Minister of Justice:
- The VIP protection.[33]
- The Sri Lanka Civil Defence Force, which is under direct command of the Ministry of Defence.[34]
- The Sri Lanka Prisons Emergency Action and Tactical Force, which comes under the Department of Prisons tasked with security and riot control in prisons.[35]
Special Forces
The following Units are known to conduct special operations:
- Sri Lanka Army Commando Regiment
- Sri Lanka Army Special Forces Regiment
- Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol
- Special Boat Squadron - Sri Lanka Navy
- Special Airborne Force - Sri Lanka Air Force
- Sri Lanka Air Force Regiment Special Force - Sri Lanka Air Force
- Special Task Force - Sri Lanka Police
- Rapid Action Boat Squadron - Sri Lanka Navy
Training
Today the training of all armed services are carried out in Sri Lanka. With a Defence University, a
- General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University, Colombo
- National Defence College, Colombo
- Defence Services Command and Staff College
- Sri Lanka Military Academy, Diyatalawa
- Naval and Maritime Academy, Trincomalee
- SLAF China Bay, Trincomalee
The Sri Lankan military has received specialized training assistance from other nations such as China, Pakistan, Australia, the United Kingdom, Israel, the United States, India, and South Africa.[36]
Referring to the overseas military training given to Sri Lanka, the U.S. government's contribution at a higher level. The Foreign Military Financing (FMF) and International Military Education and Training (IMET) programs helping to standardizing and strengthening the country's military greatly.[37]
Development
Although much of the current military hardware used by the Sri Lanka Armed Forces is acquired from China, Pakistan, Israel, India, Russia, and the United States. Indigenous weapon systems have been developed and produces within Sri Lanka to suit its requirements. Most of these have been produced by the armed forces. In 1992 the Ordnance Factory was established beginning the manufacture of artillery and ammunition including trip flares in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (SLEME) is responsible for the production of armoured vehicles and other equipment to the armed forces and have produced several MRAP-type vehicles such as the Unibuffel. Naval Boat Building Yard (NBBY) of the Navy is responsible for the production of small boats such as the Cedric and Wave Rider classes alongside other private companies such as Solas Marine Lanka while the Colombo Dockyard supplies larger vessels.[38][39][40][41]
-
Sri Lanka Air Force andCRD developed medium range UAV Lihiniya MK I
-
Wave Rider Class patrol boats which were donated to Seychelles Coast Guard by Government of Sri Lanka
-
Special Combat All-Terrain Vehicles manufactured in Sri Lanka for Sri Lanka Marine Corps
Awards and decorations
The highest military decoration awarded by the tri-forces is the Parama Weera Vibhushanaya, awarded to all regular and volunteer officers and service personnel who display extraordinary individual bravery in combat; thus far, all PWVs have been posthumous. A related award is the Uththama Pooja Pranama Padakkama, an exclusively posthumous decoration awarded to the family or next-of-kin of service personnel confirmed to be killed- or missing in action.
The highest civilian decoration awarded by the armed forces of Sri Lanka is the Weerodara Vibhushanaya, the military equivalent being the Weera Wickrama Vibhushanaya. The most recent commemorative decoration awarded was the Sri Lanka Air Force 50th Anniversary Medal, awarded in 2001. The armed forces (especially the Army) awards campaign medals for personnel that have taken part in successful, notable and high-risk operations: the first of these was the Vadamarachchi Operation Medal in 1983, while the latest (the Northern and Eastern Humanitarian Operations Medals) were awarded in 2010, following the conclusion of the Eelam War.
Non-military activities
Since the end of the civil war in May 2009 Sri Lanka's 300,000 strong military has increased its non-military activities, leading to accusations of militarisation and even military rule.[51][52][53] The military is involved in everything from large-scale property developments to the running of roadside cafes. The military has built roads, bridges, houses and stadiums.[51][54] The Urban Development Authority, which spends hundreds billions of rupees a year, was taken over by the Ministry of Defence in 2010.[55][56] A year later the ministry was renamed Ministry of Defence and Urban Development.[57] The ministry will have a budget of 229.9 billion rupees ($2.1 billion) in 2012, the largest of any government ministry.[58]
In early 2011, as
The Navy's Jetliner (A542) passenger ship is used as a recreational cruise ship providing onboard weddings, receptions, corporate events, parties and other social functions.
From 2011 all undergraduates are required to take part in
Many senior military commanders have been appointed to senior positions in the diplomatic and civil services: Air Chief Marshal
See also
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External links
- Ministry of Defence, Public Security, Law & Order - Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka
- The official web site of the Government of Sri Lanka
- Sri Lanka Army
- Sri Lanka Navy
- Sri Lanka Air Force
- General Sir John Kotelawala Defence Academy
- Media Center for National Security
- The Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to the United Nations Office at Geneva
- Library of Congress
- Library of Congress Foreign Military Relations
- Peace in Sri Lanka Archived 25 May 2006 at the Wayback Machine
- Full-scale fighting flares in Sri Lanka Extract from article about recent fighting, August 2006