Sri Lanka Army - Training

Training

General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University (KDU) formed in 1981 and situated in Ratmalana, fourteen kilometers south of Colombo, is Sri Lanka's only university specializing in defense studies. Each year, approximately fifty cadets from all three services are admitted to the university (aged 18–22) to participate in a three-year program of academic work and basic training.

Junior field officers of the army and their counterparts in the Navy and Air Force are given advanced training and education at the Defence Services Command and Staff College (DSCSC) at Batalanda, Makola which was established in 1997 as the Army Command and Staff College.

Basic officer training is carried out at the Sri Lanka Military Academy (SLMA) (formally the Army Training Center) situated in Diyatalawa, in the Badulla District. The officer cadets graduating from the academy are commissioned as officers in the regular and volunteer forces. The course for officer cadets runs for ninety weeks and includes training in tactics and administration which helps prepare the cadets to take up the positions of platoon commanders. The course consisted of military and academic subjects and also trained the cadets physically. The course helps to promote leadership qualities and the understanding of each one’s role as an officer and a servant of the state. Due to the lack of officers within the lower levels, the training process was sped up in the 1980s by developing a short commission course. The cadets were given a training of fifty-six weeks and devoted themselves to continue their careers in the military with the ten years of service for regular army officers and five years of service for volunteer officers.

Training for the new recruits are carried out by the Army Training School in Maduru Oya at several locations followed by additional training (both officers and other ranks) at the Infantry Training Centre in Minneriya, the Combat Training School in Ampara, while non-commissioned officers receive training at the Non-commissioned Officers Training School at Kala Oya. All these establishments come under the control of the Directorate of Training, Army Headquarters. Specialist and additional training is given by specialist training schools, regimental training centers and individual field units.

As the armed forces of Sri Lanka have a limited indigenous training facilities, especially in advanced roles, they have depended greatly on military training provided by foreign countries. The United Kingdom played a major role in the early years following independence and have continued to be an important source of military expertise to the Sri Lankan military. Other sources include India, Australia, Malaysia, Pakistan, and the United States. Additionally, in an agreement reached in 1984, Israeli security personnel (reportedly from Shin Bet, the Israeli counterespionage and internal security organization) trained army officers in counterinsurgency techniques.

The Sri Lankan Army has also provided special training to the United States Army on their request as well as many other countries in military education regarding civilian rescue, jungle combat, and guerilla warfare etc.