No money = no aircraft.

Read the papers - the country is bankrupt.

Sri Lanka Navy will take delivery of a 378-foot High Endurance Cutter Sherman from the United States Coast Guard (USCG) in August this year.


A section of the crew assigned to the vessel is receiving training on board the vessel at USCG base Honolulu. The USCG decommissioned the 50-year-old ship in March this year.


A senior naval official told The Island that larger vessels were required for post-war responsibilities. "We need bigger platforms to patrol the 200 mile exclusive economic zone. The acquisition of USCG Cutter is in line with the overall strategy," the official said.In accordance with the agreement between the US and Sri Lanka, the latter had to pay for repairs, spare parts et al though the vessel was gifted.


The transfer of the vessel to Sri Lanka is scheduled to take place on the helipad of the vessel at USCG base


Honolulu on Aug 22 though it is expected to remain there until early Feb 2019.


According to Hawaii-based Sri Lanka’s Honorary Consul Bede Dhammika Cooray, in addition to the contingent assigned to the vessel, there were about two dozen SLN officers and men at the ongoing large scale naval exercise RIMPAC 2018.


USCG Sherman is one of only two of its class vessels to receive the Vietnam Service Award and the only Coast Guard Cutter to acquire the Combat Action Ribbon for action in the Vietnam War. Sherman is the last decommissioned warship in the Coast Guard to have sunk an enemy vessel in combat.


The number of SLN contingent was expected to reach about 80 before the Aug 22 ceremony though at present there were 30 personnel at Honolulu base. The ship crew is expected to reach 130 by the time it depart Honolulu.


During the conflict, Sri Lanka’s offshore patrolling capacity received a significant boost when the US handed over USCG Courageous in the run-up to the eelam war IV. USCG Courageous was commissioned SLNS Samudura and took part in some operations directed at the LTTE floating arsenal on the high seas.


USCG Courageous/SLNS Samudura, the only US vessel to serve the SLN during the war, in addition to half a dozen US built Fast Attack Craft (FACs) has been launched in 1967. USCG Sherman has been launched in the following year.


Authoritative sources told The Island that Sri Lanka would also receive an old Chinese frigate mounted with 100 mm weapon. Sources said that Chinese frigate was a grant and in line with decades long bilateral defence cooperation.


Sources said that almost a decade after the conclusion of the war; Sri Lanka was engaged expanding its capacity to efficiently patrol its exclusive economic zone. Sri Lanka took delivery of state-of-the art two Indian built Advanced Offshore Patrol Vessels (AOPVs) after the last presidential poll in January 2015. In addition to the two APOVs-SLNS Sayurala and SLNS Sindurala, the SLN fleet includes five Offshore Patrol Vessels, one Landing Ship Tank, four Fast Gun Boats, two auxiliary ships (both gifted by Australia) et al.


A senior official said that during the conflict the SLN had to depend on Fast Attack Craft (FAC) fleet to counter the then threat posed by Sea Tigers. At the height of the war, there were almost 60 operational FACs though all weren’t suited to face the challenge posed by Sea Tigers’ ‘suicide packs’. In the absence of war, ongoing efforts were aimed at discouraging Indian fishing fleet regularly crossing the international maritime boundary and effective policing of high seas.


Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Coast Guard recently took delivery of two brand new 30 m Japanese-built patrol boats which were expected to be commissioned by President Maithripala Sirisena.


Japanese provided Sri Lanka with a grant of up to 1.83 billion yen (approx. US$18M) for the SLCG to obtain two new patrol boats.


The delivery of brand new patrol boats coincided with the recently concluded third Japan-Sri Lanka dialogue on maritime security, safety and oceanic issues held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Colombo.

SLAF suspends civilian flights; incentives for other domestic operators
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The Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) has suspended civilian flights after the aviation regulator recalled the certificate of airworthiness (CofA) issued to its Xian MA60 aircraft, pending technical compliance. The Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka (CAASL) and the Air Force also contradicted each other on the latter’s future plans for civilian passenger transport. In a notice on its website, the regulator says the SLAF recently informed the CAASL that it would not engage in the transport of civilian passengers. The SLAF denied this.

“The declaration in the CAASL notice is incorrect and has been mentioned without consultation with the SLAF,” Air Force media spokesman Gihan Seneviratne told the Sunday Times.
“The SLAF has not made any policy decision to refrain from transport of civilian passengers in duly approved and certified civilian transport aircraft and will continue working with the CAASL to improve its civilian passenger transport safety and standards,”Group Captain Seneviratne said.

But the SLAF admitted it had stopped scheduled civilian passenger transport for the time being, including its Jaffna and Trincomalee flights. One of its MA60s—acquired from China in 2011—is grounded for maintenance. The other is only operating military flights until a unit in its Pratt & Whitney engine is removed as required by the regulator.
“Under our regulations, we can still use it for military flights but to transport civilian passengers, we have to remove that small unit,” confirmed a senior SLAF officer. He said the MA60 will be compliant by the end of this month.

The SLAF has had prolonged discussions with the CAASL over shortcomings in its passenger transport operation. In 2015, the Sunday Times first reported that Helitours, SLAF’s domestic passenger carrier, was handing out indemnity forms to paying customers and flying them on Harbin Y-12 aircraft not cleared to transport civilians. These flights were run under military call signs against civil aviation regulations.

Despite undertakings to stop, this writer in October 2017 flew on the Harbin Y-12 to Jaffna after signing an indemnity form. The SLAF said at the time that it only did this when the MA60s were not available. The Y-12 is not listed in the civil aircraft register. The SLAF no longer was engaged in that practice and would also not do so in future, Grp Cpt Seneviratne said. The CAASL also confirmed that the SLAF was now cooperating with the regulator whenever it needed to do inspections, in a clear departure from past attitudes. The Y-12 is still available for civilian charter flights.

There are separate concerns that the SLAF’s involvement in civilian passenger transport is choking the domestic aviation sector by discouraging private operators who cannot compete on a level playing field. Helitours sustains lower flight operation costs as it is part of an established military structure. Private sector operators have repeatedly been edged out despite intermittent attempts to sustain scheduled operations.

The Sunday Times

The Sri Lankan Air Force (SLAF) has awarded a contract to a Russia firm, MFG to overhaul three Ukrainian-origin Antonov AN-32B aircraft in Russia.

According to a recommendation of the SLAF, the tender was won by a Russian company called MFG. But Antonov brand is from Ukraine. It is well known the prevailing diplomatic rift between these two countries. Ukraine has never given any authorization to Russian entity to overhaul their defence production,” the Sri Lankan Guardian newspaper quoted a SLAF source as saying.

“Who is the local agent of this Russian MFG, and what is his/her motivations and involvements with the Sri Lankan Air Force? is the million dollar question,” the source added alluding that could be graft involved in awarding the contract.

Defenseworld.net adds: While the Antonov brand is currently with Ukraine, it was part of the bouquet of aircraft manufacturers in the erstwhile Soviet Union. There are hundreds of Antonov aircraft flying all over the world including Russia which has a well-developed infrastructure to conduct deep overhaul of aircraft such as the popular AN-32.

Both Ukraine and Russia position themselves as being able to conduct repair and overhaul of aviation and defence equipment of the former Soviet Union and cry foul when the rival country gets a contract for equipment whose factories are currently based in their country.

defenseworld.net

Good to hear AN-32B is to be overhauled. One of the best working aircraft in the no.2 squadron with the C-130K.

DFN:KC-135 Arrives in Sri Lanka for PAC ANGEL 18-4 SRI LANKA 10.AUG.2018



wow! any reason for the visit?

For the PACANGEL exercise.

Japan might be trying to sell/donate a few p -3c maritime patrol aircraft to SL.

This was planned back in last year. Seems to be Japan is providing loan facility to Sri Lanka to buy P3-C maritime patrol aircraft. Has it been confirmed that P3-C are coming to Sri Lanka?

Not confirmed,but recently they conducted ASW training in mattala to SL air force nad Navy personell with JSDF P 3c

Commander Accepts Six Brand New PT-6 Aircraft at Katunayake

The Commander of the Air Force, Air Marshal Kapila Jayampathy signed the formal final acceptance of Six brand new PT-6 aircraft after they were assembled at the Aircraft Engineering Wing (AEW) at Sri Lanka Air Force Base, Katunayake this morning at a simple ceremony at Katunayake. The event was also attended by the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, Air Vice Marshal Sumangala Dias, members of the Air Force Board of Management and other officers as well as representatives of the Aviation Engineering Division of the M/S CATIC of China, the manufacturer and vendor of the Aircraft.

The Commander of the Air Force, Air Marshal Kapila Jayampathy initially signed the acceptance of 6 Brand New PT-6 Aircraft on 15 May 2018 at AVIC Hongdu in Nanchang, China.

The aircraft, painted in the recently introduced colour scheme of the SLAF, were inspected and flight tested by SLAF Engineers and Pilots, after which they were deemed to be in conformance with the specifications prior to being inducted into the SLAF Fleet.

The aircraft will be utilized at the No1 Flying Training Wing at the SLAF Academy, China Bay for the ab initio training of newly enlisted pilots. The aircraft will also form the nucleus of an aerobatic display team to be formed in the SLAF.

Source:slaf

An obvious Corrupt deal that has still not been investigated.

Anyone from the Air Force involved in this Corruption is a disgrace to the uniform!

What makes you think that this was a corrupt deal? I've seen no indication of that.

The only issue here I think is that the new paint scheme is ghastly.

You think U$ 5 million for 6 of these pieces of Chinese junk is a good deal?

That's U$ 850,000 per aircraft. You think that's fair value?

You can buy a good used Beech Baron for this price or a brand new C-172 for U$ 307,000. You could buy 16 new C-172 and still have money left over.

Of course there are no kickbacks possible when buying from the US so that's why this never happened.

I wish some of you wouldn't be so naive - that's one of the reasons your country in in its present state.

I stand behind my earlier post - this is an obvious Corrupt deal.

Good point actually. But what's worse with the country is that everyone sits back and complains about corruption and points things out but never actually want to do something about it themselves.

Aside from that whoever thought that's a good paint scheme for the air force trainers should be shot.