History of The Sri Lanka Air Force

History Of The Sri Lanka Air Force

In its early years, the air force was engaged primarily in immigration patrol, with occasional assistance in emergency relief. During the insurgency of 1971, the air force played a major role in restoring internal order; in addition to providing transport of ammunition, food, and troops, it participated in assaults against insurgent strongholds. Following the ethnic rioting of 1983, the air force was placed on permanent active status and participated in counter insurgency activities and airstrikes on the rebel controlled areas of the Northern and Eastern Provinces.

Because of a severe shortage of hard currency for military expenditures in the wake of the 1971 uprising, the Number Four Squadron(Helicopter) began operating commercial transportation services for foreign tourists under the name of Helitours. In 1987 the air force had a total strength of 3,700 personnel, including active reserves. The force had grown gradually during its early years, reaching a little over 1,000 officers and recruits in the 1960s. Rapid growth began in the mid-1980s, when the Sri Lankan Civil War drew the service into a major, long-term security role. Between 1983 and 1987, the force grew by nearly 50 percent.

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.

The earliest aircraft were small transport airplanes and trainers, that were provided by the British and were supplemented in the late 1960s with United States Bell Helicopters.

In 1959 for the first time fighter jets were acquired, forming the No. 5 Jet Squadron; these were five BAC Jet Provost from the British. These were used in combat, when for the first time Sri Lanka Air Force went in to combat during 1971 Insurrection. During insurgency, the left-leaning Bandaranaike government turned to the Soviet Union for more sophisticated weaponry, and received five MiG-17F fighter bombers, a MiG-15 UTI Midget trainer, and two Ka-26 helicopters. By the early 1980s, the Provosts and all of the Soviet aircraft had been taken out of active service and were relegated to long-term storage, leaving the air force without any bomber capability.