Sri Lanka Military Aviation

But.. but. .. some guys have decided to build planes. For SLAF. And then grow to modern planes ..

Honestly I am not against innovation.

but reinventing the wheel ?? Of course, we can, if we have a couple of billion dollars spare ..

Sri Lanka can expand the wide reach

If somebody asks why SL can't build a plane, see how many countries can successfully make SAFE and reliable planes:

Boeing, Airbus, Embraer, Bombardier .. any more ?

Heck, The russians with trillions of $ can't get it right. And include India too, with nearly half century of doing local assembly and manufacture of licenses, can't get a original product out.

Maybe our Einsteins can get it right ?

And for argument sake SL had the money and stringent engineering standards to manufacture, we will not be able to compete because SL is hideously expensive. If you look at what's happening now and see items such as clothing etc which we used to make in the 90s are now being bought down from India or Bangladesh.

This is not because of some conspiracy where we have to arm ourselves to the teeth but due to the scale of economics.

Saw this late.

Meaning manufacture ?

Supply/demand. And the cost of building a safe plane is in Billions of $s

Unless SL has lot of spare money ..

Oh, even India has failed miserably trying to build a commercial plane.

They do build War planes, as War planes don't have stringent safety standards and can spend lot of time in maintenance.

Commercial planes make money - as long as they fly

Exhibit for museum. Already trainer is in the museum.

Probably Placing it in the Museum?

I spotted a SLAF MIG 27 being transported by road on container trailers towards Rathmalana Airport at around 10.20 PM yesterday (16th October). Does anyone know why?

You can shoot me for saying this, the country is at catch 22: The huge number of armed force personnel need to be employed

Hence the Previous Def Sec's attempts to make them into farming etc .. but in my honest opinon, when a state starts to do things they aren't supposed to, they kill the private sector, like Indonesia .. example, the SLAF competing for tours with private - you can say what you want, but me says, WRONG, in so many levels.

And the other issue: nobody wants to bite the bullet, and demoblise the forces, and build up only a small force, with the rest on reservist basis, like Singapore, or Korea.

The problem is, there is corruption in every level, and nobody wants to be the bad boy, for implementing painful reforms.

So solution: keep buying more and more, spend more and more ..

PS, I really wonder what went through the minds of the folks who decided the russian frigate is a good buy !!!

What SL Needs, in case not spelt out, strong COIN ops, strong maritime reconnaissance, strong long range patrols

Getting Mig 29s, A Frigates (And only one .. ) more Mi 17s, all will only help the commission folks make $$$

Why did it start ?

That's the classical diversion tactic. Like those who wanted to evict the refugees, while there are Sri Lankans claiming refuge in HK



As long as politicians play merry go round, take turns to earn, different seats but same interest of making $, and more interested in winning elections than doing what's good for the country ..

Yes now the war is over...why for a change look inwards and think why did it start in first place and how did LKY had a same issue in 60's but he managed it well

LKY build a strong economy, rule of law and strong educated workforce.

Most of current economic woes in Sri Lanka are due to previous govt economic destruction...

At least you know where the Commissions will be going!

Defence Ministry proposes new Naval Air Force wing

http://www.dailynews.lk/2017/10/12/l...air-force-wing

I could have sworn I heard this somewhere else

The present threats emanating from the Indian Ocean due to Sri Lanka’s geostrategic location has called for establishment of a Naval-Air Force wing to secure our waters with greater surveillance and striking capabilities, stated the Secretary to the Ministry of Defense today.

Even funny, when you realise a POOR country like NZ ( ) gave up their fighters as they foresaw no major conflicts they will get involved, and need any fighters..



And in comparison, Singapore Air Force is pretty strong, since, they are surrounded by countries that have been riling up things, and / or threatened them directly in one way or other, countries who are threatened by Singapore's economic might. And, also, Singapore is an Active partner with US, involved in AF and IQ. And you can guess the threats they are facing.

Conspiracy is a crazy theory. Our economy is in trouble. That is totally true. If we modernize our Armed Forces, we should do that according to our economy.

Policy makers should have clear idea(Which they don't have) what are the priorities.

We all know that we don't have any external threat. Assume that we have, as a small country with small economy we cannot go to war except solve that using diplomatic mission.

We CANNOT say "Now there is no internal threat!!" This is what happen in 1970/80s. Our military was unable to tackle insurgency in north mainly due to lack of resources. If we were able to control LTTE in their early days, We are not in a situation like this..

Yes we don't have internal threat now,but how can you so sure there will be anything in future?? Nothing is impossible

And all of us know that constitutional reforms are coming. Most of the powers will be given to regions like Land, Police,etc. At least Central government should have strong Armed Force to tackle any challenges.

I'm not saying that we need bunch of Russian Frigates, a dozen Mig 29s, Large Cargo Planes , 100 attack helicopters. We won the war using those???? We won the war against one of most ruthless terrorist organization using 2nd hand, old arsenel. That is why I said Policy makers should think about needs of the country.

But maintaining Armed Forces comparing to our economy is mandatory and one of top priority. Otherwise if we have to face another insurgency or what ever like recent civil war, It is better to delete this thread, because nothing will left in Sri Lanka to talk.

I was talking to a SL businessman, let's say, in the mega rich category.

He insisted the Americans training with Sri Lanka is preparation for some conspiracy.

Conspiracy for what ? To steal ???? What ? Bases to be close to India ? Isn't India now buddy buddy with US ? So much so, India is one of the few countries to get the P8 and C17 ..

Gone are the days any foreign power needs boots on the ground to cause trouble. All can be done remotely, if they really want to. or satellite ..

A couple of Cruise missiles, and couple of underwater Autonomous vessels, and an innocent accident destroying a mega container ship.

Didn't want to tell him, that kind of boots on the ground stuff don't fly ..

Maybe he's convinced Sri Lanka needs the expensive Frigate, and weapons, and maybe an aircraft carrier ?

And maybe 6 Large Cargo Planes ?

And maybe 100 attack helicopters ?

You forgot to mention the many external threats that threaten the very existence and the moral fibre of the country... We need considerable arsenal to wallop them and not be puppets of the international community

So why shouldn't we buy the Russian Frigate, a dozen Mig 29s, and a few IL 76, and a few of this and that ?

To defend the nation The nation that has no external threats, so to speak of, other than the conspiracy theory believers who still think Bankrupt Russia and busy body US is meddling in SLs affairs...

(Sarcasm mode on .. )