The Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF; ; ) is the air arm and the youngest of the three components of the Sri Lanka Armed Forces. It was founded in 1951 as the Royal Ceylon Air Force (RCyAF) with the assistance of the Royal Air Force (RAF). The SLAF played a major role throughout the Sri Lankan Civil War. The SLAF operates more than 160 aircraft.
The Commander of the Air Force is the professional head of the Sri Lanka Air Force who holds the rank of Air Marshal.
Mission statement The mission statement of the Sri Lanka Air Force is
The Vision of the Sri Lanka Air Force is
History
Although Ceylonese had served in the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Government of Ceylon adopted the No. 102 Squadron RAF, no air units were formed as part of the Ceylon Defence Force. The newly established Dominion of Ceylon, under its first Prime Minister, D. S. Senanayake began establishing its armed forces. The need for an air force was identified in its defence policy and the Air Force Act was passed in parliament in 1951 in order to establish an air force for the new nation.
Royal Ceylon Air Force
As such the Royal Ceylon Air Force (RCyAF) was formed on 2 March 1951 with RAF officers and other personnel seconded to the RCyAF. Ceylonese were recruited to the new RCyAF and several Ceylonese who had served with the RAF during World War II were absorbed in the force. Initial objective was to train local pilots and ground crew with early administration and training carried out exclusively by RAF officers and other personnel on secondment. 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. These were followed by Boulton Paul Balliol T.Mk.2s and Airspeed Oxford Mk.1s for advanced training of pilots and aircrew along with de Havilland Doves and de Havilland Herons for transport use, all provided by the British Government. By 1955, the RCyAF was operating two flying squadrons based at RAF Negombo, with one focused on training and the other on transport. The first helicopter type to be added to the service was the Westland Dragonfly.
After Prime Minister S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike's negotiated the closure of British air and naval bases in Ceylon in 1956, the RCyAF took over the former RAF stations; Katunayake and China Bay, becoming RCyAF operational stations while ancillary functions were carried out at Diyatalawa and Ekala. The RCyAF Regiment Squadron was formed in 1956. The RAF headquarters, Air HQ Ceylon, was disbanded on 1 November 1957. However RAF officers remained with the RCyAF until 1962. This led to increased responsibility for the fledgling RCyAF as the RAF withdrew its aircraft and personal, leaving air defence solely the responsibility of the Ceylon Artillery since the RCyAF did not have fighters to take over void left by the RAF withdrawal. The Government of Ceylon maintained friendly relations with neighbouring countries such as India, perceived the risk of air intrusion low. However, approval had been granted to introduced fighter capability to the RCyAF. In 1959 de Havilland Vampire jet aircraft were acquired. However, the RCyAF did not put them into operational use and soon replaced them with five Hunting Jet Provosts obtained from the British, which were formed into a new Jet Squadron. Seven more Provosts followed. 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 RAF officer commanding the RCyAF was replaced by the first Ceylonese commander Air Commodore Rohan Amerasekera. 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 force had grown gradually during its early years, reaching a little over 1,000 officers and recruits in the 1960s. By 1970 the Provosts were in storage.
1971 Insurrection
The Royal Ceylon Air Force first went into combat in April 1971 when the Marxist JVP launched an island-wide insurrection on April 5. 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 Jet Provosts were taken out of storage and put into service within three days, carrying out attacks on insurgents. Its transports began ferrying troops and cargo cross the island. During this insurgency the left-leaning Bandaranaike government turned to friendly nations for weapons and ammunitions. 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. Air Force personnel joined in ground operations, and when the insurgents surrendered after about a month's fighting the RCyAF was in charge of three of the many rehabilitation camps setup for insurgents. In the wake of the insurrection the RCyAF established a Volunteer Force to supplement its regular carder.
Sri Lanka Air Force
With Ceylon becoming a republic in 1972, the Royal Ceylon Air Force changed its name to the Sri Lanka Air Force along with all insignia. Because of a shortage of funds for military expenditure in the wake of the 1971 insurrection, the No. 4 Helicopter Squadron began operating commercial transport services for foreign tourists under the name of Helitours. On March 31, 1976, the SLAF was awarded the President's Colour. That same year SLAF detachments, which later became SLAF stations, were established at Wirawila, Vavuniya and Minneriya.
With the closure of Air Ceylon in 1978, its Hawker Siddeley HS 748 transport aircraft was taken over by the SLAF. 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.
Sri Lankan Civil War
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. In 1982 the SLAF reactivated airfields at Batticaloa, Anuradhapura, Koggala and Sigiriya that had been disused since World War II, all later becoming SLAF Stations. During the First Eelam War between 1983 and 1987, the force grew by nearly 50 percent. In 1987 the air force had a total strength of 3,700 personnel, including active reserves. The Sri Lanka Air Force Regiment took over to role of ground based air defence from the 4th Regiment, Sri Lanka Artillery transitioned into a field artillery role as it decommissioned its anti-aircraft guns. As in the other services, a shortage of spare parts plagued maintenance efforts, forcing the service to send a number of aircraft to Singapore and elsewhere for repairs. 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. Maintenance of electronic equipment was performed at the communications station at Ekala, in the north of Colombo District.
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. From the period 1983 to 1985, the Air Force acquired 11 Bell 212 helicopters, four Bell 412 helicopters, three SIAI Marchetti SF.260s, two Cessna 337s, one Hawker Siddeley HS 748 and two Beechcraft Super King Airs. By 1985, nine more Bell 212s were added to the fleet, along with four Bell 412s. The 412s along with the SIAI Marchetti SF.260 aircraft advanced the attack capabilities of the SLAF. Central in the government's security efforts were six SIAI Marchetti SF.260TP turboprops which were used for rocket attacks and strafing. Additionally, the air force, with the help of Heli Orient of Singapore, equipped twelve Bell 212 and Bell 412 helicopters to serve as gunships and as transport vehicles for highly successful commando assault operations. The air force had a fleet of approximately eighty aircraft, of which sixty-four were reported to be operational in early 1988.
Government forces reportedly also used helicopters on bombing missions. A more effective bombing capability was provided by a small fleet of Chinese Harbin Y-12 turboprop transport aircraft. These were equipped with bomb racks that had been fitted to carry up to 1,000 kilograms of fragmentation and anti-personnel bombs. Transport, training, and surveying functions were carried out by a variety of Cessna and de Havilland aircraft. In 1987 the air force acquired Shaanxi Y-8s and would later use them for bombing, until 1992 when one Y-8 crashed during a bombing mission, when all bombing using transport aircraft were stopped. On 3 September 1987 a Women's Wing was formed and located in Colombo, initially tasked with administrative duties.
In May 1987, the Sri Lankan military launched what was known as Operation Vadamarachchi, its largest offensive to date. The air force mustered one HS 748, two Y-12s and one de Havilland Heron, all configured as improvised bombers. Pressure from the Government of India culminated during the Vadamarachchi Operation with Indian Air Force carrying out Operation Poomalai unopposed. The Indo-Sri Lanka Accord followed and the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) landed soon after to enforce peace. The arrival of the IPKF led to the start of the 1987–1989 JVP insurrection, during which SLAF carried out areal reconnaissance against insurgents and several SLAF stations in the southern part of the island came under attack by militant elements associated with the JVP.
With resumption of hostilities with the LTTE, to increase its attack capability, in 1991 the SLAF acquired four F-7 Skybolts, three FT-7s and two Shenyang J-5s from China. Later in 1993 the first of three Mil Mi-17 helicopter transports were acquired along with four FMA IA 58 Pucarás for ground attack. These proved to be effective, but three of the Pucarás were lost, two to surface-to-air missiles launched by the LTTE. The sole remaining Pucará was retired in 1999 due to lack of spare parts. In 1995 Mil Mi-24 gunships were acquired for close air support for the army and by 2001 Mil Mi-35s were added to the fleet.
In 1996 the SLAF acquired seven IAI Kfirs (six C.2s and one TC.2) from IsraelOf Kfirs and UAVs 60th Anniversary | Sri Lanka Air Force and a further nine of these aircraft had been added to the inventory by 2005. This included four C.2s and four C.7s in 2001. Currently the SLAF operates two C.7s, eight C.2s and two TC.2s. The SLAF used these Kfirs to launch attacks against Tamil separatist targets in rebel-controlled areas of the island.
In 2000 new aircraft were acquired; apart from the addition of Kfir C.7s and Mi-35s, these included six Mikoyan MiG-27 dedicated ground attack aircraft (obtained due to lack of specialised ground attack aircraft since the retirement of the Pucarás), a Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23UB trainer and two Lockheed C-130 Hercules for heavy transport. Six K-8 Karakorum trainers were soon bought from China, creating No. 14 Squadron to train pilots for the newly expanded fleet of jets.