Sri Lanka Military Aviation

SLAF has a brilliant record regarding aircraft maintenance. If my memory is right only 3 aircraft have come down due to technical faults;

1 Antov transport/Chinese variant Y-8(?)

1 Bell helicopter in 2007 (at the time the LTTE attacked the Anuradhapura Air base). I think this bird was rushed into the air and sadly we lost two greater assets then the helicopter, our brilliant pilots to which you cannot put a price tag.

1 Mi-24 also hit the ground some time in 2009 or 2010, thankfully no loss of life.


It is very heart warming to know that the SLAF maintain such brilliant and high standards, on par with the worlds best air forces and our engineering boys are excellent in their adaptation and skill, especially when you consider the limited resources coupled to the work load (regarding the war). It’s also further sweetening when you consider the unwanted Elephant across the Straits has the worst record in history, in spite of all it's mammoth resources

Ha ha.. I get you now.

If you look at the other operators of the aircraft, you will see that SLAF is one of a very few operator with a credibility. Others having appalling safety records. Hopefully, SLAF frames will not fall out of the sky (god-forbid) due to maintenance issues.

I actually meant literally

And as I said, one of the MA60s, I see every other month, near here, is a permanent hanger queen

And the operators is having more uptime with the ancient DHC-7s

The good thing about the MA 60 is the engines - PWC, and that's about it ..

The reason why MA 60s get picked up, is, China Aviation is trying to get a foot hold and virtually gifting them away, well, not gifting, but with the kind of payment, it is a virtual gift..

Assuming that 'come down' means delivery and not the literal meaning of the word I think at least one of them have already been delivered, because a MA-60 wearing the SLAF colors has been spotted flying around RML.

Going by the picture posted above, it appears that both have been delivered.

Very poor choice of an aircraft though.

We should give at least a few more years for the Chinese to copy the A320 and come up with their own version at one tenth the price. To be fair to them, they just started assembling them there.

when will the MA 60's start to come down ? considering none of the operators are pleased with the field performance or uptime ..

There is two MA 60s in a nearbe place, both are spending half their time in the hanger .. serviced by Chinese engineers, considering the manuals and all, possibly translated by Google Translate, have stolen the real meaning of the words ..

That is on top of one that decided to loose power on take off and skidded off the runway ..

Couple of MA-60 aircraft at Ratmalana:

and nowhere near FAA/JAA certification for commercial ops .. well, for military use - yes .. not for civilian use ..

Rifle Green Ground, Colombo

Mi-17s are good for transport of people and cargo. And as said in the article can be armed.

So multiple uses/purposes behind this purchase.

In the pic, where are they taking off from?? Ratalamana??

I know SLAF has a few MI-17s for Military Transport and one or two MI-17s for VIP transport. However the shape of the MI-17 is more suitable for Military Transport than the Civilian Tourism. Correct me If I'am wrong ?

More Mi-17s for Sri Lanka



In mid-July 2012, Russia’s Rosoboronexport announced an order from Sri Lanka for another 14 Mi-171 helicopters, to be built at the Ulan-Ude plant. The SLAF started operating Mi-17s in 1993, and the current fleet of 13-18 machines equips No. 6 Helicopter Squadron at Anuradhapura, in north-central Sri Lanka.

The additional buy is part of a $300 million, 10-year loan to buy equipment for Sri Lanka’s military, which was signed during a 2012 state visit to Russia. Why buy more helicopters? SLAF spokesman Group Captain Andrew Wijesuriya told Reuters they were buying them for civilian tourism. Oddly enough, that’s probably at least partly true…

Sri Lanka’s air force does operate an effort called Helitours, which uses the SLAF’s array of Huey, Jet Ranger and Mi-17 helicopters, as well as its Chinese Y-12 and Ukranian AN-32B fixed-wing transports. It’s more about short-haul transport than sightseeing tours, but the government’s full victory over the Tamil Tigers is expected to open the island for more tourism, as well as other economic activity. Repurposing the SLAF to support that expansion is politically shrewd, and makes extra funds available to the military now that major hostilities are over.

Having said all that, it’s also true that transport helicopters are critical to counterinsurgency efforts, and the Mi-17s can be armed. The exact version wasn’t specified, but even civil-certified M-171A1s can be militarized to carry weapons later, as Mi-171Sh variants are delivered ready for that role.

Russia and China were instrumental in Sri Lanka’s “Rajapaksa model” of dealing with its insurgency, and provided political cover at world forums like the UN. Even more important, they provided a significant quantity of weaponry and support without any human rights conditions, or threats of embargo. That backing, in turn, allowed Sri Lanka’s government to unleash the full might of its military against the Tamil Tigers, smashing through their strongholds and towns en route to the final battle near Putumattalan.

Both China and Russia continue to remain very active in Sri Lanka. china’s centerpiece is a massive construction effort to built a port at Hambanthota, which will serve as a way-station for commercial traffic to Africa, and will also be capable of hosting warships. The announcement of latest deal between Russia and Sri Lanka, meanwhile, comes as Sri Lanka this week discussed exploration and development of its natural gas resources with Russia’s Gazprom, who has been doing some exploration in the area.



Source:

serendib: those are A400Ms ??

Sri Lankan Airforce official video

CMB Air Force Base















Thanks to : pontfire

five Bell 206 JetRangers