Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Anuradhapura Airbase Attack : The Aftermath

During the last month, the Sri Lanka Air Force attacked a series of LTTE military installations and targeted several hideouts of senior LTTE leaders. Some of these attacks were successful and they dealt a significant blow to LTTE's military machine and to the morale of its cadres. Therefore it is not wrong to say that SLAF had the upper hand on battle for the most part of October. However, a team of 21 Black Tigers and two propeller driven light aircrafts changed the entire situation in one night.

Although not publicly admitted, SLAF suffered heavy losses in the attack. More than 15 aircraft of SLAF fleet received damages in the incident. At least 8 of them are damaged beyond repair. Two Mi-24 helicopter gunships (9th Attack Helicopter Squadron), a Mi-27 transport helicopter (6th Helicopter Squadron), K-8 and PT6 trainer jets (1st Flying Training Wing), Cessna 150 aircraft (1st Flying Training Wing), a Beechcraft 200 HISAR, a Bell 212 fitted with guns (7th Helicopter Squadron) and at least two UAVs (11th UAV Flight) are among the damaged aircrafts. Greatest loss of all, next to the lives of SLAF personnel who perished in the attack, is the Beechcraft 200 HISAR surveillance craft. This was the only active aircraft of this type in SLAF inventory and had sophisticated spy equipment such as Hughes synthetic aperture radar and thermal imaging unit installed to it.

Loss of the Beechcraft and the damages done to the UAVs deliver a significant blow for the SLAF's aerial and naval surveillance capabilities. 11th UAV Flight, which operated these aircraft was stationed at Vavuniya AFB until 2007. The squadron was moved to Anuradhapura AFB from Vavuniya when fighting erupted near Vavuniya-Mannar defense lines.

Investigations into the incident has revealed startling facts. One such is that the Bell 212 which crashed near Doramadalawa was hit by friendly fire. Both pilots and the gunner was killed in the incident. Bell 212 (converted into a gunship) was launched from Vavuniya AFB to hunt down the LTTE light aircraft.

After the attack, it was evident that LTTE cadres who carried out the attack wore SLA uniforms. It is still unknown whether one attack team simply 'walked in' to the base under the guise of this SLA uniform.

Black tigers who stormed into the base were armed to the teeth. Some of them even carried heavier weapons such as LAWs (Light Antitank Weapon). How the LTTE smuggled in such large quantities of weapons and ammunitions to Anuradhapura is another question that is bugging the military leadership.

Although there undoubtedly were many lapses and weaknesses in the base security plan, we should not forget one fact. LTTE cadres who infiltrated the base never planned to return. An enemy who does not have a will to live is indeed very hard to stop. SLAF personnel deployed in the base acted quickly to retaliate and minimize further losses. However it was a special fighting formation of the SLA's  2nd Special Forces regiment which completely neutralized black tiger threat. We will not reveal further information of this team to prevent possible intelligence leak.

The LTTE has won this battle. But they have not won the war.

199 comments:

  1. Czech Republic had recently agreed to provide Sri lanka with military equipment including UAVs. Now would be a good time to have them because 11th UAV flight is virtually decimated in the attack.

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  2. thank you DefenceNet and your article is one of the best i have read.

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  3. Thanks for the article defenceNet.I hope we replace the UAV's soon.Inability to do so will enable LTTE weapons ships to reach the north

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  4. A nice article on defencewire also.

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  5. DefenceNet.. (when you have the time)..have we lost all our UAV'S?

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  6. srilankan,
    Not all. But most are gone.

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  7. What ever it is, we need to replace the lost equipment to get this going. Otherwise, there will be many more challenges on the way. At this point, I am not sure if we can call any attack by LTTE a surprise attack because we all know that they are planning on attacking many military installations and economic targets. What we don't know is the timing and choice of locations. What ever it is, we need to move on with acquiring new spy crafts. Lets get there first and then we should find the moles. As I said earlier, any informant should be given the capital punishment with a speedy trial. Any way, we need to move on before they come with the next attack in the absence of our spy crafts. Hope we can get some emergency help from India, Pakistan or China to get this back on track.

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  8. The security must be beefed up in the Naval installations that contain our biggest warships.

    THIS MUST BE NOW!!!!!!!!

    The LTTE will most likely go after the the navy's big warships that detected and destroyed their weapons carrying ships in the deep seas.

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  9. defencenet

    If we are planning to buy UAVs from Czech Republic then they are most likely the Sojka III UAVs. Thats the only type of UAV that I know that the Czech Republic produces.

    http://www.army.cz/scripts/
    detail.php?id=6312

    Any idea why we won't go for the Israeli Blue Horizon II UAV?

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  10. thanks DefenceNet
    sam if you were the LTTE and your ships were destroyed and troop concentrations were bombed...what would you do.. you will take out the instrument that makes it possible..the UAV's and spy planes extend the eyes and ears of the forces...MI should have warned the president.Informants should be executed by firing squad and all their assets sold off to recuperate losses.

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  11. But sam executing even traitors is politically very risky in Slanka and may set a bad precedent.SEE our country is the only country in this world that has the greatest amount of traitors for Rs 10/-

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  12. srilankan,

    I agree with you about PR issues in capital punishment. However, that is one of the best ways of deterrence. Just like any other offense, acts of treason should also be punished.

    My major point here is that we need to move on with acquiring replacements for what we lost as well as improve defences immediately. We don't have enough time to breath at this point.

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  13. Sam i agree with you completely.The problem with replacements is that now that we are desperate we may have to pay a higher price and there is also shipping time(unless delivered by aircraft)which gives the tigers a lot of time to reorganise and regroup.I hope these airforce guys were aware of the consequences of the loss of UAV'S and spy planes to the army and navy while they were having a "honda welawe"

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  14. Apart from the beefed up security personnel in our bases, we also need:

    1) Security cameras installed through out the bases.

    2) Guard dogs to alert the security of suspicious people approaching the bases. They can smell trouble from a mile away.

    3) Digital secuity cards for all the people who work and operate in the bases, so outsiders disguised as security personnel will have trouble entering the bases.

    4) At least double fencing with the gap between the fences filled with barbed wire and the inner fence having security cameras mounted on it.

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  15. GEagle i cant understand what idiot will send expensive equipment to a lightly defended airbase according to defensewire.

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  16. All the Lankans living in the US:

    we better write letters to all US presidential candidates coz Mrs. Clinton thinks that all terrorist groups are not the same. According to her although these groups use the same tactics, some are good and other are bad. In simple term, any organization that is a treat to US or western interest is bad and others good!

    We better swing into action and change this misconception. Its not like our government is thinks ahead and act on these issues.

    Also can slap the UNP MPs for me. According to them the loss is $439 million. Wonder if these people ever went to math class. I don't that our Air Force is worth that much in the first place.

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  17. ares is correct. But I don't think we can change Hilary or any US guys. We should understand them and do our things in a suitable way.

    The loss given in large numbers doesn't matter as no normal person understand how large it is. Unless you are an accountant you don't understand what is $40 mn or $400 mn.

    I would say forget about buying expensive stuff to our air force and invest more in SLA and SLN. These MIG and Kfir displays are very less effective compared to out put to input. We should trust our ground forces and employ tactics they can deliver with out help of air force. Even tiger air force is nothing but a propaganda tool.

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  18. According to reports coming in most of my spy plans and training aircrafts were in A'pura. Why was that??? I read a article that read the beachcraft was about $8.5 million with the equipment on board. Why was such an expensive aircraft not heavy defended. I mean I would have imagined that such an expensive piece of equipment would have at least a couple of commandos around it!

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  19. Folks,

    One more thing. I don't think that our defence establishment ever planned to do a massive up front assault in Vanni in the recent times. More like the east, it is going to be a long series of battles to gradual elimination of LTTE. If somebody was expecting a spectacular assault like take over of Jaffna, I think it is a mistake. In that way it is less burden on the countries economy also. In anycase, we need our spy crafts up and running soon.

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  20. golden eagle you forgot to mention the important thing to enhance the security system ,that is to make it safe from traitors. the contribution to do the whole damage by the 21 black tigers(or24 rather) is 50% the remaining contribution is from the traitor or traitors within the establshment who sold the information.

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  21. how did they know the beach craft was stationed in A'PURA?

    roughly 6 weeks ago a villager fishing in one of the tanks in A'pura found some wepons hidden in the Tank, those was caught in his fishing net(correct me if i'm wrong)has there been any investigation?

    why would ltte send a squad of 21 sucide caders when a group of 12 or 15 could have done this if they were closely monitoring the base for a long time... well according to my opinion it wasn't planed from a long time but a sudden tactic or strike.this is my animated theory,'they were hert from vishummadu attak,some huge target was stuck,tit for tat, contacted their man in south in uniform for premium price,set up the offence,exicuted using the highly trained and most valuble human resource among them,un like in a normal situation they had to increase the human resource by double as they weren't sure about the accuracy(thats why tamilnet was so late to report ont he news)'

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  22. This is really digusting. I thing some people need to tell the top brass that there must be a difference between a legitimate army and the LTTE. Things have become so dreadful under this present leadership.

    Naked Black Tigers’ bodies displayed in A’pura sacred city
    http://lankadissent.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1997&Itemid=27
    [23-10-2007 2.00pm] The naked bodies of the LTTE members who staged yesterday’s attack on the Anuradhapura Air Force Base were displayed at the sacred city this morning (Oct. 23rd), according to our correspondent there.

    The website of the Media Centre for National Security published photographs of all 21 Black Tigers – 18 men and three women – who were killed in the pre-dawn assault on the airbase, lying in the runway of the airbase.

    This morning, all their bodies, sans their clothing, were being transported in tractors to the hospital mortuary, when they were uncovered and shown to the public, the correspondent reported.

    Several people who witnessed the incident commented that the intention was to prevent the mentality of defeat from entering the public mindset in the aftermath of this major military debacle which inflicted immeasurable damage to life and property.

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  23. tikira

    No one knows for sure if there sinhala traitors involved in this attack. Every one is just taking stabs in the dark at the moment.

    The LTTE could have used Google earth and other sources to study and memorize the way the base is laid out.

    Ares

    You are right when it comes to Hillary, but right now her campaign is looking unstoppable. According to all the opinion polls conducted she is leading by a wide margin.

    I have a feeling that even if she is elected, she would have a tough time adopting a softer stance on "good" terrorist groups, because the republicans will be waiting to jump at the opportunity to brand her as "soft on security" or "terrorist supporter" if she starts to sympathize with various groups that are branded as terrorists.
    --------------------------------

    On another note, the LTTE targetted the Beech aircraft and UAVs because these have been very helpful in increasing the accuracy of the the SLAF bombing and at gathering intel on the enemy.

    Now if you stop and think for a minute, the LTTE will possibly try to target the navy's large warships that have detected, chased and sunk so many LTTE cargo ships in the past months. This really hurt them bad.

    So we must beef up security at the naval bases that house these valuable warships. We can't fall a step behind the LTTE again.

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  24. tikira,

    What you say can be a certain possibility. Lets put us in Velu's shoes and see what we would do.

    1) We promised Eelam last year and failed the attempt.
    2)We lost the eastern province
    3)There is a possibility that SL forces may take Vanni back.
    4)International view is not favourable for us because of our past acts.
    5)India is vehemently against Eelam.
    6) Our financial backbone is strained because of lack of enthusiasm of our supporters.
    7)Lots of our supply ships are destroyed.
    8) Lives of our leaders are at high risk
    9)Achivement of Eelam is farther than ever.

    What are the options we have at this point?

    1)We need to survive so that our next generation can win Eelam

    2) We defend our perimeters while preparing for attacks that can strain the enemy militarily and financially.

    3)Ok, bringing in SL war machine to a grinding halt is not possible but we can hurt them, otherwise we could have won Eelam in August-2006.

    4)Lets resort to guerilla attacks to dent the enemy capacity.

    5)Lets try to slow down the enemy

    Even with all these attempts, we know that we can't win Eelam near terms but we will survive.


    This is the outlook for VP as I see. Tell me what you think of the plans of LTTE.

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  25. right now the question that needs answering is how are we going to regain our lost surveillence capacity. where's the money going to come from, and how soon before its back online. time is the enemy here.

    no point crying over spilt milk now.

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  26. This attack shows a simple thing too. When it happened 9/11 US identified thier laps and they fixed them. And also they work continuosly on the issues so nothing happened so far. But we have not learned any thing from Katunayaka attack. This is basically a repaet of that. (air attack has done no physical damage)

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  27. One more thing, I heard that Velu is a short man compared to SL standards. If so, the black tigers seems to be even shorter in the photograph. Id being short a qualification to be a black tiger?

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  28. If MOD reads this blog, please count this as the opinion of one Sri Lankan out of 20 Million. Please don't go for a knee-jerk reaction to this attack. Take a step back and check for the loose ends first while we try to replenish the spy crafts. Stay on the original course which was working well.

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  29. Jiffy is absolutely right, all this is spilled milk no use crying over this. We must now look to the next step.

    We do need to get another Beech(or repair the other one we have) and UAVs as fast as possible. We can't linger long without aerial surveillance hardware.

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  30. Defencenet, I blame for top people for not providing best security for base and planes. this attack is almost like first KAB attack.

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  31. Hey,are they now going to give bodies back to LTTE to redcross ?
    http://www.lakbima.lk/articles
    /news1.htm

    I don't like it.LTTE will make statues for them.Does our guys want it?

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  32. The Hindu reports that the LTTE planes were detected by the new radars.
    -----------------------------------
    "Aircraft were detected: Colombo

    B. Muralidhar Reddy

    COLOMBO: Amid speculation on the extent of losses in the LTTE’s ground and air raid on the Anuradhapura air base on Monday, the Government said on Tuesday two separate enquiries were initiated to probe the sequence of events.

    The military conceded that the death toll of the troops mounted to 14 after a critically injured airman succumbed to his injuries. Another 22 Air Force personnel were under medical treatment.

    Sources in the Government were at pains to emphasise that the re-vamped air defence system had detected the approaching two Tiger aircraft well before they were over the air base and a helicopter was deployed from the neighbouring Vavunia air base to intercept them.

    However, the military helicopter crashed a kilometre from the retreating LTTE aircraft. While the Government attributed the cause of the crash to a “technical snag,” a section of the media quoting military sources said the military aircraft came down due to “friendly fire.” Two pilots and two gunmen in the aircraft died in the crash.

    TamilNet quoting the LTTE reported, “Two Lieutenant Colonels, six Majors, 12 Captains and one Lieutenant rank Black Tiger members have taken part in the operation. A Lieutenant Colonel who led an attack team was from Trincomalee, two of the members, a Major and a Captain were from Batticaloa, one from Mullaiththeevu, one from Mannaar, three from Ki’linochchi and eleven members from Jaffna which has been under the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) control since 1995. Three Captains were female Black Tigers.”

    The military on Tuesday claimed that at least 25 cadres of the Tamil Tigers were killed in continuing battles in the north in the last 24 hours."

    http://www.hindu.com/2007/
    10/24/stories/2007102462012000.htm
    -----------------------------------

    If this is true, why the hell we did not shoot down those tin cans?

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  33. DefenceNet

    "The LTTE has won this battle. But they have not won the war."

    True...but they indeed have delivered a huge blow to our recon and precision bombing activities :(
    Hope SLDF can acquire another recon aircraft ASAP and some UAV's too since we have lost the best UAV's we had :(

    It's sad that an entire base couldn't fend off a raiding party of a few dozen tigers and had to call in support from RSF and that also came too little too late.

    I wonder what more it will take our military leaders to figure out and fix their obvious weaknesses..
    I though after Katu attack air bases were in much higher alert levels... Obviously we haven't learned from our mistakes which is really sad...

    I heard that the black tigers have capture our AA gun positions and used those guns n our aircraft...is their any truth to this or just flying rumours?

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  34. Guys, sorry if this does not sound very exiting right now! I entered the following comment in the previous thread but we moved to this new thread before I could get any replies to it... so thought of bringing it up again...


    It's true that the damage runs in to millions of US$ and that the SLAF needs to purchase some of the lost air crafts ASAP, specially the Beechcraft! But already faced with a strained defence budget, it will be difficult for them to come up with the required cash...

    So how about setting up an account (similar to the President's Fund), dedicated for defence expenses, for the public to contribute? I personally know few people who are willing to support this and I'm sure, all patriots will contribute towards this handsomely!

    However, all funds of this account should be used to purchase military hardware and not for the benefit of any politicians... may be we can have the commanders of the 3 armed forces as the owners/signatories of the account, there by having a strict control over it!

    This will give all patriotic sri lankans a chance to actively participate in Sri Lanka's fight against the LTTE!

    So what do you guys think?

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  35. Guys this is a very touching article on the daily mirror. Note, its says the ill fated Bell 212 was "accompanied by another helicopter".

    DefenceNet and others can u confirm this ?? If so what was the other chopper? were the witness to this gruesome incident ? Did the other chopper hover around after the Bell 212 was brought down or did it proceed to AAFB or after the LTTE planes?

    The last words of the pilot
    ===========================

    “Take this chain and give it to my wife, because I can’t be sure if I will return alive,” were the last words of the Air Force pilot who flew the ill fated Bell 212 helicopter which crashed while pursuing the LTTE aircraft involved in the attack on the Anuradhapura airbase on Monday.

    The pilot, Squadron Leader Amila Mohotty, had handed the chain to a friend before taking off to give chase to the two LTTE light aircraft, accompanied by another helicopter, only to face fire from anti aircraft guns on the ground which hit his helicopter and brought it down in Mihintale, some 12km from the airbase, killing all four Air Force personnel on board, according to his grieving colleagues.

    The Bell 212 helicopter was shot down by an anti aircraft gun within the perimeter of the airbase and investigators will have to find out whether the gun was fired by a member of the security forces who had mistaken the helicopter for an LTTE aircraft, or by LTTE cadres who had infiltrated the base.

    Air Force colleagues of the pilot of the ill fated helicopter, who did not wish to be identified, also claim that the authorities in Colombo had asked the Anuradhapura airbase to fire at any aircraft in the sky as none of the government owned planes were in the Anuradhapura air space at the time.

    The miscommunication between Colombo and Anuradhapura could have led to the security forces shooting down the Bell 212 in the dark, sources said.(031)

    www.dailymirror.lk

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  36. This event has taught all a lesson.

    Now we can't continue to wallow in the misery of destroyed military hardware. We need to rebuild our aerial surveillance ASAP thats the next logical step. Put other military hardware purchases on hold and take care of this first.

    Most of all, we must not give up on the current startegy that the armed forces has adopted since the past 2 years. No time to lose confidence and spend time wandering the wilderness.

    Just because of this attack, we can't put ourselves on the backfoot. The pressure exerted on the LTTE must continue on land, sea and air. Especially at sea.

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  37. "I would say forget about buying expensive stuff to our air force and invest more in SLA and SLN. These MIG and Kfir displays are very less effective compared to out put to input."

    This is incorrect. One of the main edges the security forces have over the LTTE is the SLAF air support. On the ground, take away the MBRLs, and the Army and LTTE are pretty evenly matched. What the MoD should be doing is getting hold of more gunships and assault transports -- we need a fullly integrated air mobile/assault division on the lines of the US 1st Cav in Vietnam or their current 101st Air Assault. Better close air support is what's needed so that aircraft can be used tactically and not just for strategic raids and interdiction (as they are now). In the end, this is more important than even frontline AA defences, since the LTTE air capability amounts to the damage caused by a couple of mortar shells.

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  38. david...
    yep...it'a about time our sldf bigwigs adopt these kinda strategies that have been proven effective over the years

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  39. Guys, this letter shows your education about ongoing war and the facilities we are having.

    Here are the corrections.

    PT6 is not a Jet Trainer. These were used in 80s and early 90s to fight against LTTE and now attached to the pilot training unit over there in Anuradhapura Air Force base. None of the Bell 212 is converted to the flying gun ships but having 2 x 7.62mm machine guns mounted in doorway. I doubt what the purpose of air lifting these during an air attack. None of the Bell 212s having the capabilities of firing air borne items.
    This is not a sudden attack but with a proper plan. They never planned this because of recent losses but planned this at least three years prior to the incident.
    If any of you been to the SLAF base at Anuradhapura, you know the surroundings.
    It’s surrounded by couple of tanks including the Nuwarawewa tank. Others are tiny, marshy areas with reasonable forest cover. There are two to three military camps nearby (including the one at galkulama) but anyone can approach the SLAF base through tiny jungle areas.
    No need to ask question such as how they entered there and what has happened. There is a duty for all of you; especially to the dammed politicians. Keep the war out of politics. Mr.President your brother can not lead this war anymore. We need a better leadership. As far as I know Gotabhaya did nothing in the operation Wadamarachchi. What MR doing at the moment is using war to keep his struggling government alive. I am not blaming him for his dirty politics but we need a sheer leader like General JP to lead the army including top brass.
    A person like Colonel Prasanna Silva knows how to tackle the enemy in the battle field. They know the correct tactics to win the war and the hearts of tamil people. To get them back to the war fronts we need clever leaders to run the war machine. You can win the toughest enemy in the world with little bit of brain. If it is not with you will lose it with the ultra modern equipments.

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  40. Defencenet,
    We undestand the busy time you have. Thank you for taking more than 5 minute period to update us all.

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  41. Puffy,

    "So how about setting up an account (similar to the President's Fund), dedicated for defence expenses, for the public to contribute? "

    better to tell people to pay their taxes.

    There is such a thing as the National Defence Fund, set up by Lalith Athulathmudali in the 1980's. They have collected maybe oen or two thousand million rupees. Last years defence expenditure was budgeted at 139,000m. To put this in context the entire collection from VAT (the biggest single contributor to govt revenue) is Rs.120,000m.

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  42. David,

    I agree with you. why cant we set up something similar to US Army Cavalry Regiment in here. by doing so we can use these MI24 gunships effectively. i think we are not getting the use they are meant for. what do you guys think?

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  43. Basically i mean there should be separate Regiment in SLA to handle Close Air support and Air assaults...

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  44. Aslam, what I have heard of Gota from those who served at the same time as Gota is that he is a very tough customer, a real fighter.

    The Economist described him as a "fire-eating colonel".

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  45. I am refusing the comment that SLA shot down the Bell 212 in the dark because Bell 212’s noise travels more than 4 to 5 kilometers and SLA people are pretty much familiar with the noise.
    "I would say forget about buying expensive stuff to our air force and invest more in SLA and SLN. These MIG and Kfir displays are very less effective compared to out put to input."

    This should be corrected as this. Forget about adding MIGs. Because Kfirs are considerably good in both Air-to-Air and Air-to-Ground assaults. We have to invest on intelligence, sophisticated items such as GPS guided rockets, Air-to-Air weapons and Ground-to-Air weapons, night vision capabilities of the gun ships and the transport/fighter planes.

    I do not agree with using jet fighters or bombers for close air supports. Because none of the fighters can bombed accurately to the ground targets. In recent past our bombers bombed SLA camps even. For such a help what we need is flying gun ships. I think we do have dozens of gun ships at our bases. We do not have Mi 27 transporter, but just a Mi 17 transporter.

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  46. "Forget about adding MIGs. Because Kfirs are considerably good in both Air-to-Air and Air-to-Ground assaults".

    The Kfir's we have don't have an air-to-air capability as demonstrated by the fact none of them were even scrambled to intercept/chase the LTTE planes. The two Kfir C7's can be upgraded to perform an air-to-air role but this has obviously not happened and given the time it takes to get off the ground, it wont make a good interceptor. Trying to chase a Zlin with a lightly armed Bell 212 is pointless.

    The Kfir is also considerably less capable than even the existing Mig27's in the air-to-ground role, much less payload and need to have additional targeting pods to carry PGB's as compared to the Mig27.

    "sophisticated items such as GPS guided rockets, Air-to-Air weapons "

    At the moment I believe only the US made MLRS uses GPS guided rockets. I don't think there is a cheap Russian/Chinese alternative, so we still have to rely on air strikes.

    The problem is that you cant just add air-to-air weapons. Most AAM's need multi mode radars/IRST which can cue the missile. There is no point adding all these systems to the two C7's, the cost wont be much less than buying a more suitable platform (can be second hand) which has all these features and more.

    "I do not agree with using jet fighters or bombers for close air supports. Because none of the fighters can bombed accurately to the ground targets".

    Not necessarily true. Upgrading or more modern fighters can perform this role when combined with better communication with the ground. For example the Chinese now make cheap ground based laser designators which can be used by troops when calling for CAS. The problem with relying solely on heli gunships for CAS is their vulnerability to enemy AA/MANPAD's.

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  47. Shay...full agreed mate.
    dint we loose even a couple of Puccaras during CAS...
    A gunship though more accurate and agile in hugging the ground contours etc is an easy target for AA fire...
    there were a few online videos where iraqi's have brought down US blackhawks with rpg rounds... Even the US apache's are vulnerable to these types of ground fire...

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  48. To improve the alertness of our men, it may be helpful to organise simulated attacks on our installations. It is certain that DPU simulate things before going in but never heard that KAB was ever sealed for a simulated attack.

    TIGER HUNTING MUST BE MADE A NATIONAL SPORT.

    Even if everybody knows that it is a simulation, close observation of event chains can also lead to the detection of very difficult to find loop holes. Just have to see how useful a simulation is in difficult court cases .

    Shall we continue the discussion ?

    PAMADO MACHCHUNO PADAM

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  49. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  50. 20 something years of war, our army shit heads can't even protect our military assets, i heard they were watching sirasa superstar, Air force chief has enough reasons to resign now, what an idiot,

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  51. times eye..keep cool bro..this is not only about the activites of men at the base.It is also about procedures,layout of base and the response time of units.In fairness the soldiers faught well.Remember they could have all hidden under beds or sold their weapons for petty cash to the enemy or for the promise of a job at a takeout in canada but they didnt.It shows some degree of responsibility instead of the opinion "meka anduwene-ething vinasavonoth anduwa aye gani"-which is a big +++++.now according to the defencewire article(no disrespect to defencenet)the troops were lacking in readiness which is not all their fault.I hope the new commander puts these guys through their paces.In my opinion in a base housing aircraft worth millions of $ (which we cant afford)there has to be multiple check points,security checks and regular patrols round the base before you reach the planes.I think there should be troops stationed inside hangers as well.I am not sure who should be blamed if anyone as the govt has given the forces a free hand in their operations.My heart goes out to the families of the dead soldiers.Their lives have been turned upside down due to complacency.

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  52. Ruslan, the main prob, is that each of the forces is very jealous about what they consider their 'territory'. So the SLAF is adament that only they can have aircraft. That is why the SLN has no shipboard choppers. The SLAF even opposed the awarding of jump wings to airborne soldiers. This mentality must be broken if we're to conduct true air-sea-land ops. The old Airmobile Brigade, RSF etc were always crippled because of these probs. Even if the SLAF insists on crewing the choppers, an air assault division can be a joint SLAF/Army unit with dedicated aircraft, Army infantry battalions, special forces and arty. Commanded by aan Army general with joint Army/SLAF ops, logistics, etc. It's been done in the UK.

    "I am refusing the comment that SLA shot down the Bell 212 in the dark because Bell 212’s noise travels more than 4 to 5 kilometers and SLA people are pretty much familiar with the noise. "

    Aslam, ever been in a firefight at night, in bad weather. It's loud and confusing. Do you know at what range the 212 was downed? No. It's quite possible that the rotor sounds were drowned out by the groun battle. The AA gun might have already been in action, and if you're firing a .50 you wouldn't hear anything around you. Believe me.

    "20 something years of war, our army shit heads can't even protect our military assets, i heard they were watching sirasa superstar, Air force chief has enough reasons to resign now, what an idiot,"

    I think the biggest idiots are the people who seem to think that war's a one-sided scripted movie. Shit happens. Get over it.

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  53. Thank you so much guys for your enthusiasm. I am humble by words and your request to participate in the blog further.Hope we can keep the momentum going until we see the end of LTTE.

    Goldeneagle,ltte=nopeace, sam, millmi and all the other guys here, i just can't live without this blog...

    Squadron Leader Amila Mohotty's story is really moving ....

    We have a duty ...

    It is now or never...

    Only thing is time, which is not on my side...

    However I am really determined to participate in the Sri Lankas war against LTTE..

    I can contribute in many ways....

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  54. The best thing the MoD could do is do away with the three separate armed forces (Army, Navy and SLAF) and just have one SLDF. Then the air arm is just an arm, like the arillery or armoured corps, not a separate force. Soldiers, sailors, and airmen are loyal to their parent units, not the force, so that wont make a difference. They'll still belong to the Gajaba Regiment, or the SLN Suraya or whatever. The ranks would have to be made common though, like in Israel. No wing commanders and rear admirals. Army ranks.

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  55. "the main prob, is that each of the forces is very jealous about what they consider their 'territory'."

    David,

    Yeah true, being in jealousy is proven with results in front of our own eyes now. Only "Airforce should fly planes and Navy should operate Boats" what a lame theory is this..? I mean, take a look at other nations Armed forces, there's plenty examples. its time to Change things after learning these bitter lessons.

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  56. Daily News: IGP Victor Perera visited the area to review the investigation process with regard to the infiltration of the LTTE to launch an attack on the air base.

    Why there are no organisation for the execution of complex specialist tasks linked to:
    1. State Security
    2. Military Security
    3. Economic Security
    4. Food Security

    MR must setup such agencies and make them invisible, run by the invisibles... means no traces of their action. Silent dedicated and efficient.

    Such agencies in EU zone are accountable only to a secured defence committee of the parliament.

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  57. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  58. Hi guys ,

    well we had a bad day.

    I do have to agree with tikira . this is a rush job, done most specifically to take out the UAV and Beech Air Craft. Sam perera is right on the money . The tactic is to prolong the war and take out the most lethal assets in the SLA. Hell even if the whole air force was destroyed the LTTE can't win.
    The beech was their primary target while UAV secondary . FLIR fighting capability was advocated by the US to us for years. FLIR is the end of LTTE .

    I think the beech and the UAV were parked temporarily for a mission . Somebody sold the information or the beans were spilled. LTTE had a window opportunity and went for it.

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  59. I suspect that one or two LTTE men or women still escaped either wearing SLAF uniforms or Police Uniforms.

    There is a huge concern that for each of the attacks, LTTE might has brought in 'facilitators' wearing Police/Army/Navy/STF uniforms.

    It is said that an LTTE man in Police uniform facilitated the three wheeler that came to assassinate Gota too. Finding an SLAF uniform with a suicide kit in Katunayake is another wakening call.

    Perhaps, we should have Area Security Squads who plans and execute security of each area of the country, who can easily be identified and has the authority to check identity of any Police/Army, SLAF/Navy etc officers who coordinate entire security of an area. They should act as mini JOCs covering each area and it should roll-up to a Central Command Centre.

    Any thoughts?

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  60. DB,

    I second your joint attack division proposal. It is something that we are missing.

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  61. http://www.nationalsecurity.lk/fullnews.php?id=8095

    Black tiger base bombed....

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  62. Recently LTTE left some millitary equipment close to Regal Cinema in Colombo...

    I thought that was a total distraction..I remember I warned that it was a distraction and something is planned elsewhere...

    Guys, SLDF missed all the tell tale signs of a super massive attack..I have been telling this for the last couple of months...I knew this was comming ...There were times that no one updated the blog and I was really concerned..
    It was obvious , we loose the guard on everything...

    The GOSL must use optimum usage of SLA's fighting formations...We need to minimise the movement of key GOSL figures so we can allocate these brave men to defend all our assests...

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  63. " Finding an SLAF uniform with a suicide kit in Katunayake is another wakening call.
    "

    Or perhpas that was a distraction preparing for this attack, recall how it was found just lying there in a bag on the steps of some building?

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  64. "I thought that was a total distraction..I remember I warned that it was a distraction and something is planned elsewhere..."

    Haha sorry Tangara I didn't read this first I promise, but glad to know we had the same idea :)

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  65. Now we have to rely on the greatest intelligence asset we have..the eyes and ears of our people..ALL the peace loving peoples of SLanka.

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  66. We can provide even our one month salary without any hesitation but I wander why,
    I feel air force commander and top officials have not proven their capabilities in several cases..
    It obvious that lack of security done that, what ever others say it’s the officials duty to protect the camp, soldiers + equipment, I don’t mind after a some battle they have destroyed the stuff ,
    but here a bullshit..
    it's completely a shame for the who are fighting.. who had done lot and scarified
    i totally agreed with the Time Eyes...
    it's away from the basics....

    shall we form a good list who responsible for this..
    please don't mention name.. but list Ranks..!!

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  67. Patriot..i dont mean to impose my ideas on you..but how long does it take (in mins) to destroy 23 planes by 8 people who have sneaked through lax security?

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  68. Does anyone know if we have diplomatic relations with libya?

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  69. defencenet,can u confirm whether we have any operational UAV'S because defencewire reported that we have lost our entire UAV fleet.

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  70. Yes,srilankan we do have diplomatic & very friendly relations with LIbya..

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  71. Ya.. basically it's lack of security
    Unless Commander has not taken them

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  72. rifard,

    I am sure we have few UAV s remaining

    http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20071024_03

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  73. I think it was a good move with regards to the naked LTTE bodies. Others will no doubt disagree, but it has certainly taken the gloss off the gloating of the LTTE and its supporters. This needs to be done every time the bodies of suicide cadres are found. This has bothered the LTTE so much that they have released a statement over it!

    Read the following article very well:

    Rebels outraged at public display of naked suicide bombers
    http://tinyurl.com/274vef

    Apparently the LTTE was happily waiting for the bodies to be returned so that they could be given a heros burial.

    Another important point is when the LTTE statement says:

    "Please note that the family members of the dead LTTE fighters are deeply shocked at the parade of the bodies of their loved ones."

    Clearly the parents new their sons and daughters were going this mission and did nothing to stop them or alert the authorities. And they expect the bodies back?

    From now on, the bodies of dead LTTE suicide cadres (not normal ones) should be humiliated in this manner so that future suicide cadres will know how they will be treated and how their family will react. This may sound mean, but so are cowardly suicide attacks. The bodies of suicide bombers must also never be handed back to the LTTE. Of course, this should NOT be sanctioned officially, but every time the bodies of suicide cadres are found they should be humiliated and not handed over to the LTTE. The LTTE glorifies suicide bombers and places them on a pedestal. We should not help out with their ideology, rather we should play our own psy-ops games.

    The biggest joke is when the LTTE says "We also want to point out that throughout the history of our organisation we have always respected and treated honourably the members of Sri Lankan military POW (prisoners of war) and dead combatants."

    What a laugh.

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  74. We have not lost the entire UAV fleet. But most of them are damaged.

    Tamilnet itsels admits this fact:

    "Meanwhile, a SLAF reconnaissance aircraft was observed circling over K'linochchi. Three Kfir fighter jets of the SLAF were also flown over Vanni around 5:00 a.m."

    Link:
    http://anonymouse.org/cgi-bin/anon-www.cgi/http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=23569
    (For sri lankan readers)

    http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=23569

    Note: TamilNet is not a source of our information. We have confirmed the fact indenpendantly.

    Although not all UAVs were lost, current status of 11th UAV flight is nothing compared to what it was 3 days ago. It really was a killing blow.

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  75. "I think it was a good move with regards to the naked LTTE bodies. Others will no doubt disagree, but it has certainly taken the gloss off the gloating of the LTTE and its supporters. This needs to be done every time the bodies of suicide cadres are found. This has bothered the LTTE so much that they have released a statement over it!"

    Charlie I think you are wrong on this, it makes a professional army look like illtrained thugs, and whoever came up with this idea is also insulting the forces on the world stage.

    No where in the world is this done, you don't see US troops doing this to even AQ terrorists, and the few that did similar things were (Abu Gharib albeit to the living) were prosecuted.

    I don't think it is a good idea at all, it just tarnishes the country's name.

    As for the LTTE if you think this bothers them you are mistaken; they are making hay while the sun is shining, whoever made this decision has given them a propaganda tool on top of the military hardware losses now!

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  76. By the way exposure of naked tamil tiger bodies should never have happened.

    No prolonged propaganda advantage can be gained through such acts even among the local population.

    But this will seriously affect the positive image of armed forces and Sri Lanka. LTTE, being a terrorist organization, is well known to engage in such acts. Tigers display dead bodies of SLA soldiers killed during LRS missions along with their military hardware almost every time when such an incident occurs.

    But LTTE are terrorists. INn contrast, Armed forces of Sri Lanka is a professional military machine. Such acts should be avoided at all costs.

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  77. "From now on, the bodies of dead LTTE suicide cadres (not normal ones) should be humiliated in this manner so that future suicide cadres will know how they will be treated and how their family will react."

    By the way, I don't think a guy who is about to blow himself up into lots of little bits is too concerned about what someone is going to do with their body.

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  78. jack your and our comment was posted at the same time. You pretty much said everything we had to say on that matter :)

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  79. Sorry I disagree. The LTTE hold suicide bombers in high regard. We need to show them that we will not treat them as such, nor will we return the dead bodies of suicide cadres to them. On LTTE websites, the tone of glee has turned into outrage. And that's a good thing. The LTTE may have carried out a stunning attack, but at the cost of the humiliation of its cadres. They were expecting to have the bodies happily returned so they could carry out a huge propaganda exercise in the Vanni for the "matyrs" and likely gain new cadres. That is not going to happen.

    Let's take a leaf out of the Israeli book. They even demolish the houses of the families of suicide bombers. They believe that this stops people from becoming suicide bombers because they are afraid of the repercussions on their family. We don't have to go that far, but potential LTTE suicide cadres need to know that they will be humiliated if they choose to attack.

    Being a black tiger is a prestige position. We need to make them realise that its not.

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  80. "future suicide cadres will know how they will be treated and how their family will react."

    We're almost certain that it wont work like that. The LTTE will make those photos a good recruitment tool and might actually get some more cadres into its war machine.

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  81. On the contrary, I think the photos are very demoralising to the LTTE and the LTTE supporters, defencenet.

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  82. "We need to show them that we will not treat them as such, nor will we return the dead bodies of suicide cadres to them"

    If they really cared about what we thought, they will not be suicide cadres in the first place.
    These units are brainwashed and are trained in isolation inside dense jungles of Mullaithiv. They have one mission in their life and that is to die for their organization (even though the cause they die for is impractical). Whatever we think of them, they are heroes among the LTTE. That is what matters to them.

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  83. "That is not going to happen."

    The bodies are being returned via the ICRC, and as defencenet said this is only going to help their recruitment due to the very outrage you mentioned.

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  84. Yes defencenet, they do not care about what we think, but they do care about what their people/LTTE think. It is a prestige position. They also know that they will be honoured in a matyr's grave and their family will have special benefits over others. The gloss over that needs to be eliminated. If you carry out a suicide attack, you will be humiliated and your body will not be returned to the LTTE.

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  85. Well jack, this is the first time I'm hearing about they being returned. What I read online was that they were buried.

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  86. I guess you didn't read the article to which I provided a link jack:

    "Police said forensic tests were carried out on the bodies and DNA samples taken to establish their identities.

    “We buried them in individual burial plots,” said a police officer in Anuradhapura, a major tourist spot.

    http://tinyurl.com/274vef

    Or is this not true?

    In anycase, I argue that the bodies of suicide bombers should not be returned to the LTTE.

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  87. http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20071024_04

    Ok guess they changed the plan now, earlier they were going to be handed over.

    Maybe this is to cover up the apparent capture of 3 survivors?

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  88. "If you carry out a suicide attack, you will be humiliated and your body will not be returned to the LTTE."

    Charlie,

    Not returning the bodies is one thing and displaying them naked to general public is another.

    Besides, whether or not the bodies are returned, Black tigers are categorized as heroes even before their mission. Their families (Mahaveer families) gain protection and supplies from LTTE. So we do not think this really matters to them.

    What we meant was that as a responsible government and a professional army, we should not have played with dead bodies.

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  89. I'm not saying the humiliation and not returning the dead bodies be officially sanctioned. But what happened with these bodies was a good thing. It has kindled dismay and outrage among the very people who were jumping up and down and clapping about the LTTE attack. The LTTE matyrs graves are very important, we do not need to support that notion by sending the bodies of suicide bombers back to them. IMO suicide attackers are cowards.

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  90. I think you all have got it wrong about Tiger bodies.

    1. Since the tigers were heavily armed with suicide jackets to military hardware sewn to their clothes, they had to be cut off to diffuse bombs.

    2. Then they were loaded to a Tractor to take to the hospital mortuary, photographs were taken

    3. There was no parading involved whatsoever as shown in the twisted truth in Tamil Net

    4. The bodies were covered in black polythene just befor the tractor took off

    The TamilNet article is false!

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  91. BTW, I am glad that the SLAF did not put all their eggs in one basket and save the other 12 UAVs intact in other bases.

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  93. Sri Lanka Defense Force (SLDF)! This is a good idea. The Army, Navy and Air Force should be dismantled and established the SLDF, which is commanded by the National Defense Council (NDC). The NDC should be headed by the President. Other members include the operation commander of SLDF (rank general) and heads of all other wings. Eg.: Naval wing, Air wing, Special forces wing, intelligence wing etc.

    Or a similar structure.

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  94. "BTW, I am glad that the SLAF did not put all their eggs in one basket and save the other 12 UAVs intact in other bases."

    NolTTE are there 12 more? The way it was described I thought all or most were lost?

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  95. Surprised to see lots of discussion about our hardware and what we are doing with our hardware. We are thus helping to cultivate the general knowledge of the enemy/enemy supporter . What we must do is to discuss the enemy/enemy hardware/tactics etc so that general awareness of the tiger is improved and the level of counter measures are ameliorated.

    Examples.
    1. Is there any detailed analysis of the 1 suicide bomber who killed more than 100 of our young sailors, why we fell in to the “braake naeee, brake naeee”. Why our men lacks the automatisms to protect themselves after 30 years of suicide attacks.

    2. Why is it that not a single suicide attack was neutralised before target ; GR OK but SF touched. All commando attacks were successful.

    3. What really happened at the AAB. Detailed analysis , hardware used by the enemy. What the general public can do to help prevent such attacks.

    4. What is this famous bunker structure under the Wanni forest cover.

    Does the SLDF has a unit dedicated to study the counter measures. It is not necessarily the top brass who can think. SLDF can profit from feed back from imaginative persons.

    PAMADO MACHCHUNO PADAM
    A man who is not alert, vigilante and diligent, is as good as dead.

    SLDF and SL citizens must repeat this Manthra 24 hours a day.

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  96. Beechcraft and other test UAVs are a big lost... But still we have got many including the 8 Kelamas who are operational and now being used for the latest raids.

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  97. noltte=peace are you sure about another 12 uavs at other bases

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  98. Surprised to see lots of discussion about our hardware and what we are doing with our hardware. We are thus helping to cultivate the general knowledge of the enemy/enemy supporter . What we must do is to discuss the enemy/enemy hardware/tactics etc so that general awareness of the tiger is improved and the level of counter measures are ameliorated.

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  99. Agree Mathematica.. mum is the word!

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  100. mathamathica...the real war with the LTTE is going to be overseas.This is why it is necessary for a lot of Slankans to have jobs abroad and wield some political power overseas...Thankfully this opportunity has arisen or will arise in the near future.The best way to beat the LTTE is for SLankans to exploit educational opportunities to the maximum.IE educational development.

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  101. As we stated before, SLAF has not lost its entire UAV fleet. We do have operational IAI Scout and Super Scouts but more advanced UAVs the SLAF used such as the Beech HISAR and its ground control station are destroyed. 11th UAV flight will now have to take a step backwards and use older hardware until replacements arrive.

    We have unconfirmed news that several countries (Republic of Czech included) have come forward to aid the SLAF in this critical time and to provide us with new UAVs. There is a possbility of SLAF acquiring new UAVs even by next month.

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  102. Somewhere in the news i heard a politician (cant remember the name) raise the question "Why couldnt the multi million dollar MiG27s stop black tigers?"

    Did he actually expect SLAF to use MiG27s to bomb AAB to destroy the entire base along with black tigers and be done with it?
    Now thats a jackass in the making.

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  103. Thanks DefenceNet for some good news.
    What is worrying however is how many more arms ships will reach the north in the meantime.We need to be on our guard.However i am happy we killed all/majority of the black tigers...Sadly we could not use machetes on them in order to skin them.The forces would have been a laughing stock if the majority of them returned.

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  104. Sounds like as long as we have some budget we can purchase some equipments soon.
    Related to killed LTTE, not sure why SL Gov. has to follow the Geneva rules. Geneva ruling is realted to war. This is a internal matter and we have terror but nothing else.

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  105. noltte=peace

    What are Kelamas? Never heard of them.

    Defencenet

    What are the other countries apart from Czech republic that have offered to sell us UAVs?

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  106. MathaMathica-

    "Surprised to see lots of discussion about our hardware and what we are doing with our hardware. We are thus helping to cultivate the general knowledge of the enemy/enemy supporter . What we must do is to discuss the enemy/enemy hardware/tactics etc so that general awareness of the tiger is improved and the level of counter measures are ameliorated."


    This is a greate idea. We should find those kind of ideas. I'm sure in long /short run country will benefit.

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  107. Here is a picture of a Sperwer UAV carrying two SPIKE LR ATGMs under its wings:

    http://www.defense-update.com/
    images/sperwer-B1.jpg

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  108. GoldenEagle,

    Your proposal sounds very interesting.

    Kelama in Sinhala = 'Gossip' (there are nearly two handfuls of Scouts and Searchers we have).. They will be called to North from the East etc.

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  109. Editorial "The Island"

    Casting the first stone

    The UNP has demanded that Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and Air Force Commander Roshan Goonetileke resign forthwith over the LTTE raid on the Anuradhapura airbase.

    Attempts are being made in some quarters to lionise the Tigers. But, a proper analysis of the situation will show that the LTTE could have carried out Monday’s attack without losing so many Black Tigers. Even its baby brigade could have accomplished that task with ease given the serious security lapses on the part of the SLAF. The Tigers had, as our front page picture showed on Tuesday, just removed a part of the fence around the camp, crept in and fanned out in fives to wreak havoc.

    Now the question is: Who should be held responsible for the debacle? Of course, President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who is the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, the Air Force Commander, the Defence Secretary and those who were in charge of the ill-fated base must take the blame for the the disaster. But, should they resign? If so, then by the same token, President George W. Bush should have resigned over the jet-attack on the Pentagon and Britain should have had many prime ministers during the World War II. For, Churchill should have resigned over the initial failures of the British army.

    In this country, the late President Ranasinghe Premadasa should have resigned when over 600 policemen who surrendered to the LTTE on his orders were massacred in 1990. The ignominious vacation of the Jaffna Fort in the same year should have made the UNP leaders resign en masse. But nothing of the sort happened. In 1985, the LTTE massacred scores of Buddhist devotees in Anuradhapura and escaped. But, nobody resigned!

    In November 1993, the LTTE not only overran the sprawling Pooneryn-Nagathevanthurai Base but also removed battle tanks! President Wijetunga was in power at that time, ably assisted in his war effort by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who was the de facto Defence Minister, chairing as he did the Security Council meetings. But, we can’t remember either President DB or Prime Minister Wickremesinghe ever offering to resign. The then Defence Secretary Hamilton Wanasinghe also stayed put. Worse, the military officers who were found responsible for that military disaster by a court of inquiry were later promoted and then sent abroad as ambassadors after retirement. The UNP government saved its face by forcing the then Army Commander Cecil Waidyaratne to resign.

    Never mind LTTE attacks. The Tigers were still on treetops, when the galkatas-carrying Rathu Sahodarayas made a foray into an airbase. In 1988, the JVP attacked the Katunayaka airbase, raided the armoury and got away with weapons. Later, the commanding officer was found in his undies. Neither President Premadasa nor his Defence Secretary resigned!

    The Mullativu Base fell under President Kumaratunga in July 1996 but she, her Deputy Defence Minister and Defence Secretary carried on regardless. The Elephant Pass base fell but no heads rolled in the PA government. At the rate camps were falling under President Kumaratunga’s regime, we should have had at least a dozen defence secretaries. In 2001, under her watch, the Katunayake Airbase and the International Airport came under a devastating LTTE attack. But, there were no resignations.

    What about the debacles the LTTE has suffered? Last year, it faced humiliating losses at Mavil Aru, Muttur and Vakarai. It also had to abandon Thoppigala, which was described as one of its impregnable strongholds. For the last year alone, eight of its arms ships have been destroyed. Did Prabhakaran resign? In fact, he should have resigned way back in 1995, when he had to hook it from Jaffna all the way down to Kilinochchi, unable to face Operation Riviresa.

    There have been debacles on the political front as well. The present-day UNP has suffered a string of defeats just like the SLFP which was a down-and-out loser from 1977 to 1994. But, has any head rolled in the UNP? No!

    Thus, it could be seen that there is no political leader or lackey without sins to cast the first stone at those responsible for the Anuradhapura debacle.

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  110. hemantha:

    True, the president is the commander in chief. But, does he go around the bases and check their security? No. That is done by someone lower than the president. So, no one is asking the president to resign except for opportunistic UNPers. However, there was someone who was in charge of the security of the base. He/she must be held responsible for the loss of lives and equipment. Dont under estimate the effect of this base debacle. This has potential to reverse the gains of the war. This is a huge boost to their sagging morale. I dont have to tell you how important morale is when you are at war. It is ironic that our bases lack security after we had katunayake base attack. The tincans come and bomb and go back safely. It is nothing but humiliation. Our leaders must act.

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  111. Contrary to what people say, its the LTTE who have won by the SLA displaying the naked bodies of their cadres.

    One, its propaganda to recruit cadres.

    Two it tells the tamil population that the army will never change and is out to humiliate the tamils.

    Three it tells the dispora that they should continue to support the LTTE as things have not chnaged in lanka since 1983.

    Four it shows that the army is not proffessional and justifies LTTE's behaviour. Furthermore it shows that the SLAF were really humiliated in this attack. Showing your powress to dead bodies is not bravery

    Lastly it tells foreign governments especially the US that they should chnage their stance on the LTTE like Hillary did.

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  112. As far as the evidence shows like in lankadissent (who are anti but not LTTErs) reuters, yahoo, it all points to a deliberate move to display the naked bodies. Stopping and allowing cameras to take photos and not covering the bodies is shameful.

    As far as the mission was concerened, it was an LTTE mission of no return. However, I am not sure that they were wearing suicide jackets. Hence for propaganda sake calling it a suicide attack is acceptable but in reality it was most probabily not.

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  114. Hemantha,

    Bro, thanks for that post from the Island editorial. Good read.

    Overall, I agree with it, but I do have some reservations.

    Now, one does not expect Gota to go round and inspect the security of the SLAF bases and to test if the concertina-wire layers, mines, intrusion/motion detectors etc. are functioning and anyone who claims that he should do so has to be a RW supporting she-male who is out to make political mileage out of this fiasco.

    However, SLAF chief, Roshan Goonetileka, is an another issue. He is the commander of the SLAF and it is incumbent upon him to make the rounds and ascertain the security of our SLAF bases (especially bases that hold $$$$$MILLION assets) by absolutely (not cosmetically) making inspection field trips (with a “rolled up sleeves” attitude as we say in the corporate world in the west) and examining and asking skeptical/critical questions from the base commanders/rankers. Now somehow, I don’t think he has done this as he is based in Colombo and enjoys a rather a plush/easy life. As someone said, it is sad to see the SLAF performing as a 9-5 private business and not as a vital arm of our national security. This must change!

    In my view, no, Roshan Goonetileka must resign. This is the honorable thing to do as that will boost the morale of the SLAF – as that will show the rank & file that not even the top-brass are immune from “facing consequences” if you screw up. It is time the Colombo based military honchos thought that their jobs are directly correlated to our capabilities to fight the LTTE carcass-maggots. If this is dawned upon them with no delay, then I can assure that, as we say in the business world in the west, there will be an abundance of “self motivation” at the very highest degree!

    OaO Asithri

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  115. Charlie/Defnet:

    I see there were rather contentious views earlier about the LTTE bodies and the reports that some, allegedly, were carted naked in a garbage tractor. Wow! Did someone say there are thousands dieing in Dafur at this very minute? LMSSAO!

    Defnet, I agree with your view that SLDF should not cart the dead carcass-maggots (this OaO Asithri copyrighted term for the LTTE and I don't ask others to agree with me; when someone takes an infant and smashes its skull on a tree trunk for the brain matter to spew out in front of the wailing mother and then hacks the mother too subsequently with swords/axes to die a slow death, no, I don't consider such a "thing" a human) as it can give a bad name to the professional military that it is. I say this with not any moral righteousness, but strictly based on possible detrimental effects to SLDF’s reputation. I say not on moral grounds as in my book, when fighting TERRORISTS, it is a “no-holds-barred” and anything is a “go” as long as “the end justifies the means” philosophy!

    As such, in the same token, I must agree with Charlie's view that these bodies must not be returned to the LTTE for pomp and pageantry as “maaveerars” who “brought down the SLAF” with all the frills, including video-graphing etc. that will be used as propaganda tools for future recruitments – that is child recruitments – and fund raising abroad. I personally have seen such videos/DVDs being sold at LTTE undercover “humanitarian/charitable” functions even in some Christian church premises in the West. It is best, as SLDF has unfortunately had to (what a pity!lol!), that these fast decomposing bodies be disposed of through burial/cremation. After all, there have been many incidences in the past where SLDF boys who where captured alive and subsequently murdered through hacking/cutting with swords (usually done by the LTTE female cadres as they are usually given heavy doses of the concocted stories detailing the horrors of Tamil girls being raped by SLA soldiers, when they undergo LTTE indoctrination) were not returned to the SLDF as the bodies were, as LTTE carcass-maggots put it, “in an advanced state of decomposing.” As such, I agree with Charlie that there is nothing wrong in not returning the carcass-maggots’ bodies to be used in pomp and pageantry to boost the LTTE’s morale.

    In my view, fighting TERRORISM requires THININKING OUT OF THE BOX! Unconventional warfare, needs Unconventional strategies/tactics.

    OaO Asithri

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  116. Call me a hard liner, I think that it was a good idea to not give the suicide terrorist bodies. Not only that these bodies should be discarded very unceremoniously. It could have been much better if we discarded these bodies with no publicity at all. The moral high grounds we are talking about were introduced in the time of conventional warfare and not suitable for todays anti-terrorist operations.

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  118. Asithri and Sam, I agree that the LTTE could have used the burials of their cadres for propaganda purposes amongst the Tamils in their areas. But not handing bodies over is a double edged sword. If we stop handing over their bodies, they will stop handing over the bodies of our soldiers (and such situations will continue to happen).

    We owe it to all the guys fighting for the country to make sure that doesn't happen.

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  119. "LTTE likes to talk about human rights of it’s killers"

    hemantha, sadly the "international community" does too

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  120. Onecountry,
    I agree in the most part. Everybody who is responsible should be punished accordingly. But nobody knows weather it's the carelessness of the A'pura base commander or the systematic negligence spread though the Air force system. If it's the latter most of the blame will go to the Air Force commander and some blame will go to the president too since the president is the one who appointed him. Let's hope that there would be a thorough investigation to find the cause for this debacle. Without doing that there would be a no way of rectifying the errors.
    And I don't think these opposition a--holes who are asking for the pound of flesh has anything related to the well being of the country in their tiny minds. “The Island” editor explains nicely how they were doing when they were in power in the recent past.

    And a word about this body displaying thing. I wish it never happened. But we shouldn't waste our time on that topic. Farmers like to talk about weather. Animal lovers like to talk bout animals. LTTE likes to talk about human rights of it’s killers

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  121. Let's get updated.

    1.0 Our learning curve

    PM said we learn from experiance. He should first read the report of KAB attack. We should not be surprise even if LTTE do same thing again. Our learning rate such a slow one. Also think about other repated same style attacks. (Clarency F., Ranjan W., Parami K., Gotabhaya R. all similer. Gamini D., Chandrika K., Laki A., similer. KAB, AAB similer. List goes on. This is neglegence. we need to fix this.

    2.0 Buying new stuff for SLAF.

    Earlier I suggested we should not invest hevily in SLAF and rather do it for SLN and SLA and some guys objected. We need to have MI-17 like or better helicopters as they can be used at least to bring injured soldiers from battle front soon and this will put up their moral. Our SLAF now has proved twice how they manage all these very expensive things. If people won't change in SLAF administration should chagne their policy. I still beleive SLAF will deliver very little even we (tax payer) give them high tech UAVs and MIG29s. We have little money and if we put it into SLA and SLN we will get more. It is the foot soldier who brings victory or defeat. These MIGs and Kfirs are good for show and proud but too much for a poor nation.

    3.0 Investigations

    It is crucial to have this investigated and take corrective steps(not the report goes to drawer missing eyes of everyone). Still we don't know fully Sarath F. and Gotabaya R. bomb incedents.

    4.0 Common sense

    It seems many of our top guys have no common sense. There were no contingance plan or any thing. I think AAB commander assumes tigers will not attack their and did nothing. Even a AL student I guess make more pre-active steps to prevent terror attacks and make a plan B if he was there. If our defence forces these kind of "management" stuff they better hire few for that.

    5.0 Resignations

    UNP wants every one to resign (and give the government to them). I am not sure about this but after four times if you can't gun down those tin cans I think some thing should happen.

    6.0 Dead bodies

    I don't care showing it if there is no media and an so called int. comunity in this world. This may help to releive the anger but tiger propaganda capitalised on that too. Dead bodies are dead and living caders get just angered and there will be more black tigers. However it is ridiculous to talk about human rights of sucide caders (a bishop did).

    7.0 What next

    It is clear our inteligence was weak regarding this attack. We (fishermen) found many wheopns few weeks ago in A'pura but no body cars. We found lot of explosive in Jaffna many times. What about this kind of attack in Palai? Comando raid with air strikes, naval attacks and artilary from Punarin at same time 2.00 am when there is cricket match or next sirsa kunariya? Are we ready?

    MR appoints SLA guy to A'pura. What about P,naruwa and other areas? I think we need to serously asses and upgrade the security of all our bases.

    SLAF expect tiger cans to come Colombo to gun down it as SLAF may need some reaction time. What about smugling one tin can to Katunayaka and using a empty road in mid night attacking KAB and go back to vanni?

    By this attack LTTE expected many things and we still can stop one thing. That is not putting down our moral.

    8.0 Types of attacks

    We can clasify LTTE attack into several types and this might help prevention.

    By nature

    A) Nonavathina rali (Mulathive type)- high casulaties for both sides
    B) Clamore- casulaties zero vs high
    C) Ambush-casualties low vs low
    D) Single Sucide-cassulaties 1 vs high (must avoid one as the targer is high profile)
    E) Group sucide-casualties few vs high (must avoid)

    This mulathiv type now may not be possible if they are weak. I guess LTTE like other types these days as they will earn a huge result with little expense. So it's mostly about inteligence. I guess LTTE might use that commando type attack on a VIP.

    By theri intention;

    A) To get revenge
    B) To get publicity keep happy tamil diaspora
    C) Targeting tourist industry
    D) Gain whepons
    E) Gain teritory
    F) To divert ALDF attention
    H) For defence

    Most of the time it is a combination of above.

    9.0 MR-no worries

    MR said he deosn't worry about lost planes but the SLAF guys. I think this is good but may misinterprations by media. I don't think even the monetory loss is larger than our anual wastege and corruption.

    10.0 Propaganda

    Whatever happened it's over and whatever lost also gone. But propaganda is not over and we need to manage it. Our SF guys gun down more than half of that 21. This means more than half coud't complete their mission. (Those who did commited suicide.) If some of the planes or ammo dumps etc reamins good we should have showen them and say "These were not damaged" while giving out damages. Or we need another topic soon specialy to give international media to talk about. This should not be mis-understood with hiding the truth or protecting MR admin.

    11.0 Combined forces

    This idea by David is interesting. But I don't know about practical situation. SLN lost the chance to get a ship with helicopters as SLAF oppose it. Even within SLA unit comes first before army or country. We need to overcome these stuff.

    12.0 Summury

    If we want to win this war we need to be with our forces. LTTE is the best terror outfit in the world and SLDF is not the best army. Also we need to understand the difference between self-joined (ofcourse brainwashed, racist) sucide cader and guy join SLDF for a good pay or for a job. Think about JVP caders. Another thing this war is fought not only in north. There are human rights front, NGO front, media front in colombo. And international players elswhere.

    Asithri is correct about out of the box. LTTE use all kind of tactics and if we get bounded to conventional ways we are at the loosing end. Finally, we can loose a battle but not the war.

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  122. Illegal.existance,
    "sadly the "international community" does too"
    May be. But it's being done and can't reverse it now. And it's a single incident possibility of occurring again is almost zero. LTTE will keep repeating it until they get the attention of the so called “international community”. So I don't think we achieve anything discussing this topic other than helping the LTTE.

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  123. IllegalE

    Your point about LTTE not returning bodies of our boys is valid (as a tit-for-tat), but keep in mind the bodies are more valuable to the LTTE than to our side from a strategic standpoint. In our case, we in a typical village scenario will have a private funeral and bury/cremate the body with relatives/friends participating and grieving with no presence from GOSL or the SLDF (well, at least only marginally and it will be mostly silently, very much subdued). However, in LTTE's case, such funerals are organized with pomp and pageantry, with speeches by the LTTE honchos on the importance of sacrifice to "Tamil homeland" and "how proud the grieving parents must be of their son/daugher who carried out a devastating attack on the murderous-Sinhelas and has now attained the "maaveera" status that will make him/her be born in a higher life in the next birth and s such, this should be a happy occasion, etc. etc." No, on our side, we don’t do this type of crass hoodwinking.

    Mate, in anycas, LTTE hands over bodies of our SLDF when it suits them and at other times, they simply burn them.

    No, I don't think dead bodies should be a propaganda tool for the LTTE carcass-maggot to recruit more bodies that will end up dead!

    Keep in mind that it is our sense of tradition and sense of decency that the LTTE has depended on all these years to become what they are today. As I said, it is time to think out of the box!

    Oao Asithri

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  124. Ninja Bandara,

    I keep reading your interesting points.. keep contributing..

    You have a great mind!

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  125. I think the idiot who stationed that advanced spy plane at the air base should resign.Also all residences within close proximity to airports should be cleared.We need to start a witch hunt as well in order to determine how these guys moved their weapons without detection.

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  126. Again some of the bloggers do not see the point. Giving the LTTE the bodies so what. You mean they are not going to have ceremonies. Its being spoil spot. Accept the defeat.

    Its custom that even if you are having a feud with someone that you still pay your respects to their family.

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  127. Guys this is what Raman is saying in his new article in saag.org

    "......The commandoes, divided into groups, infiltrated into the air base from two directions and, within 20 minutes, took the security guards by surprise, overwhelmed them, seized their weapons and communication equipment, neutralised a radar and an anti-aircraft gun position and then intimated their headquarters that they were in effective control of the air base. Only then the two aircraft of the LTTE's air wing flew to Anuradhapura and dropped two bombs on the base and flew back safely to their hide-out."

    any truth in this ?

    and note how biased his article is. I wonder whether he would write with the same tone, if the attack was on an Indian air force base !

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  128. navindran is right Those bodies should be given. To there families . The law should be same to all. In a crime scene you give the bodies of the perpetrators to the family and not to any criminal organization. Let the families come and claim them or we should cremate the bodies and close the matter.

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  129. http://www.nationalsecurity.lk/fullnews.php?id=8105


    It looks to me this is distraction by the LTTE...This even could be the work of our underworld gangs on behalf of the LTTE...
    Another attack somewhere else is imminent....

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  130. defencenet:

    Is it true that LTTE attacked army at Tissamaharama killing 5 soldiers?

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  131. Guys,can u pls confirm the total no of UAV's that we had in our fleet,comprising of IAI SCOUT,SUPER SCOUT & IAI SEARCHER UAV'S..& also,defencenet,i guess you mean the Beeechcraft-200 HISAR is an advanced manned surveillance aircraft?

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  132. Onecountry, MCNS is denying it, but now I see item on Tamilnet claiming 6 navy personnel KIA and 12 WIA by an ambush in the area.

    Defencenet please give us the truth as always! Thanks.

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  133. DefenceNet ..(when you have the time)...any truth about the ambush of a navy bus at tissamaharama.

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  134. the story is not true...nothing happned in tissa...

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  135. Guys,
    It is high time a good general was appointed to oversee the southern province - above DIG - as well, before it is too late. The police alone is not competent enough for the task.

    A soldier in the league of Major General Karunaratna's or Major General Lorence Fernando will do the job.

    We cannot afford to offer terrorists another bout of morale booster at the expense of our innocent soldiers

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  136. The Airforce personel had a party and were highly distracted during the attack! This is what happened before the attack according to reliable sources.

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  137. Was there a tiger ambush on SLN in Amparai region?

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  138. ogre did the entire base have a party or was it only some in the rank of officer?

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  139. Guys,
    Please read the following article. We discussed this earlier too (a little bit). But I believe this is important. It's not clear what she thinks exactly. But she is going to be the next president in US. We might have to adjust our war time table accordingly (I believe).

    "US Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton this week urged a more nuanced approach to armed non-state actors, arguing "the bottom line is, you can't lump all terrorists together. … what the Tamil Tigers are fighting for in Sri Lanka, or the Basque separatists in Spain, or the insurgents in al-Anbar province may only be connected by tactics."
    Senator Clinton made her comments to Michael Tomasky of Britain's 'The Guardian' newspaper in an interview which covered Iraq, the legacy of the Cold War and ceding executive powers.
    When asked "do you think that the terrorists hate us for our freedoms, or do you think they have specific geopolitical objectives?", she replied:
    "Well, I believe that terrorism is a tool that has been utilized throughout history to achieve certain objectives. Some have been ideological, others territorial. There are personality-driven terroristic objectives."
    "The bottom line is, you can't lump all terrorists together. And I think we've got to do a much better job of clarifying what are the motivations, the raisons d'être of terrorists."
    "I mean, what the Tamil Tigers are fighting for in Sri Lanka, or the Basque separatists in Spain, or the insurgents in al-Anbar province may only be connected by tactics. They may not share all that much in terms of what is the philosophical or ideological underpinning."
    "And I think one of our mistakes has been painting with such a broad brush, which has not been particularly helpful in understanding what it is we were up against when it comes to those who pursue terrorism for whichever ends they're seeking"

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  140. hemantha i wouldn't worry about it:).let her become president first.

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  141. Dear defencenet

    Is this true?

    6 SLN killed in Tiger ambush in Hambantota

    [TamilNet, Thursday, 25 October 2007, 12:02 GMT]
    A guerilla commando unit of Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) Thursday evening ambushed a Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) vehicle, a bus carrying more than 25 SLN personnel, in Thissamaharama in the Hambantota division of the southern province, killing 6 SLN personnel, LTTE military spokesman Irasiah Ilanthirayan told TamilNet. Claiming that the attack was a gunfire ambush, Mr. Ilanthirayan said 12 SLN personnel were wounded in the attack that took place at 16:35 p.m. Thissamaharama division is situated in the constituency of the Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa.

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  143. Thissamaharama Attack?
    The Tamilnet has claimed 'LTTE Commandos' have ambushed a Sri Lanka Navy bus killing six sailors. DefenceWire has heard otherwise. A bus carrying a group of naval ratings has stopped and the ratings on board had opened fire on what they had considered an enemy presence. The bus, which is a heavily armed vehicle, did not show any signs of gunshot or shrapnel damage. No presence of LTTE cadres, let alone 'Commandos' are reported in the area.-defencewire

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  144. Hilori Clinton might win. But her statment is not just her idea. It's hard work of tamil diaspora in USA. What we are doing? Displaying naked bodies.

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  145. ninja bandara

    Actually its the Indian Lobby that threw its full weight behind Hillary. The Clintons(Bill and Hillary) have been known to garner massive support from Asians and Asian lobbies. This was also the case in the 90's.

    The Indian lobby has grown in size and influence in the last 10 years, and I bet there are many Tamils and South Indians in it who are supporters of the LTTE.

    It seems these days that lobbies from foreign governments are deciding the direction of the US government. The American citizens are getting pissied and they it can soon reach the tipping point. Lets see what happens.

    Even if Hill wins, the Republicans are watching like hawks for any error on her part to paint her as "soft on terrorism". The American people beyond anything else want security(after 9/11) and it does not bode well for Hillary if her actions get her tagged as "soft on terrorism". So if she wins, she still must carefully manuveur around a political minefield.

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  146. Goldeneagle, you may be correct. But sri lankans (sinhalese) in USA are doing very little as I know.

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  147. In the case of the US, its resources are being drained because of the war. Dont get me wrong but war is good bussiness anywhere.

    However during the second world war, it was europe that was freed the US from the great depression through massive weapon purchases. Today the US is being drained by fighting others wars.

    It will be prudent and accepted by the US to reduce their "enemies". You do not want the basque or LTTE to link with Al qida and launch a coordinated attack on the US.

    Hillary Clinton will win. She even has the African American vote. The general US populance is sick of war. There are more than 20 000 mamed young men from the Iraq war. Over 3000 dead. The United States has failed in Iraq and it will eventually withdraw like Vietnam.

    All the allies of the US have silently fallen back. Bush can be considered the worst president in the US.

    The main reason is because he does not listen to advice outside his inner circle, has wierd beliefs that guide him and he thinks he is some god choosen chrusader.

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  148. Ninja Bandara

    Navindran touched a good point, there have been ties between LTTE and Al Queda and Taliban. If the Hillary tries to give verbal support to the LTTE, the Republicans will have a rain down punches on her. She will be finished if the Republicans take advantage of this.

    Any US politian must be out of their mind if they believe they can get away with supporting an organization that has ties to USA's mortal enemies Al Queda and Taliban. It would garantee a swift demise of their political career if it is exposed on national news.

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  149. Guys,
    Following is the "Daily Mirror" version of the Anuradhapura Air Base attack.

    http://www.dailymirror.lk/2007/10/26/opinion/02.asp

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  150. Ogre:
    “The Airforce personel had a party and were highly distracted during the attack! This is what happened before the attack according to reliable sources”

    Agree, and I too received same info. The base commander and his officers likely were at that party in the SLA Saliyapura base (the details will come out shortly in the enquiry established) and in my view the whole damn clique of those bungling bastards must be sacked and court martialled . The enquiry must include a close review of what the SLAF commander Roshan G has done to assure the security of the base and if proven he was lax or sloppy, then he too must be sacked immediately. This is an exercise that required a “no hold barred” and “take no prisoner” mind-set.

    nwreader:
    “Is this true?
    6 SLN killed in Tiger ambush in Hambantota”

    Not at all! This is a load of bloody crap put out by the TamilNut. It is in the interest of the LTTE maggots to create hysteria and fear psychosis in the south as they see that’s how they can assure their she-male pansy friend, RW, can become the executive President of the country – as then they know they will be given the “thamileelam” this time on a platter!

    Now for some positive news from DM:

    Basil on Anuradhapura attack

    By Sandun A Jayasekera

    All airplanes and helicopters damaged and destroyed in Monday's LTTE attack on the Anuradhapura airbase will be replaced shortly with the help of friendly countries, said senior presidential advisor Basil Rajapaksa yesterday.
    A number of countries had already made inquiries from the government to assist in this regard, Mr. Rajapaksa told the Daily Mirror
    Declining, for obvious reasons, to disclose the names of the countries that had come forward to help the government, he said the government was determined not to let the Anuradhapura attack affect the war effort and that it would replenish all the aircraft sooner rather than later.

    New military aircraft to be purchased

    By Sunil Jayasiri

    The National Security Council which met on Wednesday, just days after the Air Force lost eight aircraft in the LTTE attack on the Anuradhapura air base, decided to immediately purchase a number of new military aircraft for the Sri Lanka Air Force.

    OaO Asithri

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  151. Asithri,
    To me, following sentence of the Basil Rajapaksa interview is the most important.

    "The war against the LTTE must be given the priority over all other business of the government"

    I believe it's a policy statement. And this is the first time ever the government made such a comment.

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  152. Good, hopefully now we will get better UAVs than the ones lost to the attack.

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  153. Guys

    The remaining beach crafts was the new one compared to the one we lost. So the government in a hurry trying to order another few … UAVs we have to get some very quickly cos we lost the most of it

    DefenceNet CAN u confirm this mate .....

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  154. Agree with you Goldeneagle. That’s the bright line in this dark cloud.

    There wouldn't be a great city called Chicago if it wasn't completely destroyed by a fire in 1871. Similarly San Francisco would be a second tire city if it wasn't destroyed by a fire in 1906.

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  155. Vp is waiting for hilary.This is why he wants to declare the north as a seperate country soon.He is of the opinion that we are going to start knitting classes en masse.Lets see.

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  156. Sri Lankan,
    It looks like Sri Lanka will have to fight tooth and nail for her existance. It's heartening to see that the government intends the same. We will have to fight not only with LTTE but with time too. We can't wait another year to start the offensive as Goldeneagle demand always. Time to time there would be debacles. But stopping is not an option.

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  157. Dear Bloggers,
    Is Hilary wooing the Tamil Vote Bank?

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  158. "I think it was a good move with regards to the naked LTTE bodies"

    I think it was bloody pathetic, and just underlines the fact that the best the GoSL can do is disrespect the dead. The base was unable to stop the attack, but now we're saying, "Hey, look what big brave buggers we are, we can take the clothes off a dead Tiger." What do they want, a medal? I think the tiny amount of face-saving done by this act is countered by the propoganda victory we're handing to the LTTE on top of their military victory. This is the act of a tinpot barbarian, not that of a democratic government.

    "This has bothered the LTTE so much that they have released a statement over it!"

    Don't be absurd. Do you think the bunch that is ready and willing to send women and little children out to blow themselves up give a fuck about a few naked bodies? They're using it for propoganda, and it's working.

    "Clearly the parents new their sons and daughters were going this mission and did nothing to stop them or alert the authorities"

    You're being silly, Charles. Do you think parents of SL special forces are notified when their sons are off on a top secret mission? Obviously not, so why would the LTTE tell civilians about what was really a superbly executed SAS-style commando op, very similar to the Pebble Island raid during the Falklands War, when the Brit SAS wiped out the Argentine close-support capability.

    "From now on, the bodies of dead LTTE suicide cadres (not normal ones) should be humiliated in this manner so that future suicide cadres will know how they will be treated and how their family will react."

    I'm sure this makes sense to a civilian who has nothing but hatred to attack the LTTE with, but it isn't the act of a soldier. Suicide bombing (and this raid wasn't one btw) is an effective guerrilla/terrorist tool, and whatever it is, it isn't cowardly. I'm sure it takes a lot of guts to kill yourself for your cause. Do you think Corporal Gamini aka Hasalaka Gamini was a coward for suicidally attacking the Tiger armoured bulldozer that had penetrated the EPS lines? Respect your enemy, if you want to defeat him. Blind hatred and attrocities might seem cute when you're downing your arrack&soda in a bar, but it doesn't work in war.

    As for suicide cadres knowing whats in store for them, I doubt they're under any illusions. Anyone who's willing to give their lives, won't care about their bodies. They already think we''re animals, we've just proven we are. And from on, I can bet the captured bodies of SL soldiers will be treated the same.

    "On LTTE websites, the tone of glee has turned into outrage. And that's a good thing."

    I think you're a victim of Tiger propoganda, Charles. You shouldn't believe everything you read on LTTE websites :)

    "Let's take a leaf out of the Israeli book. They even demolish the houses of the families of suicide bombers"

    That's right, because it's effective. They don't display bodies, which is barbaric. Israel is a civilised first world country that's proven its effectivity in the war on terrorism. Dispaly of enemy bodies just proves that you're helpless to do anything effective. Basically, you can't hit what counts, so you take childish kick at the dead. As the saying goes "Even a dog may look on a dead lion". Or Tiger in this case.

    "On the contrary, I think the photos are very demoralising to the LTTE and the LTTE supporters, defencenet."

    Do you know any, Charles?

    "Yes defencenet, they do not care about what we think, but they do care about what their people/LTTE think."

    What rubbish. They don't give a shit what their people think. All they care about is controlling their people. And the humiliations incurred by the bodies will help the Tigers incite more hatred for the Sinhalese. Put yourself in an LTTEers shoes (if you can), or imagine that this was done to an SF patrol; if you saw this done to your friends or comrades by the Tigers, would you fear the Tigers or hate them more. I think the answer's obvious.

    "If you carry out a suicide attack, you will be humiliated and your body will not be returned to the LTTE."

    Fortunately the Army's led by men of honour, and I doubt this act will be repeated.

    But in the end, I think the whole "parading" story's bullshit. As Noltte saays, the bodies were covered and lying in a tractor trailer outside the morgue when onlookers asked to have a look. They were shown the bodies by a few of the soldiers there. That's all. Unfortunately, some took photos.

    "Call me a hard liner, I think that it was a good idea to not give the suicide terrorist bodies. Not only that these bodies should be discarded very unceremoniously."

    Maybe so, Sam, but this will result in no Army bodies being returned either. When that happens the soldiers are listed as MIA and their families get no benefits.

    "Mate, in anycas, LTTE hands over bodies of our SLDF when it suits them and at other times, they simply burn them."

    Asithri, they usually burn them when the Army refuses to accept the bodies. The Army routinely does this when bodies cannot be poitively ID'd. The Army defends this policy on the grounds that the LTTE maybe handing over bodies of their own caadres or civilians in order to boost the Army bodycount. The LTTE almost never disposes of Army bodies if it can hand them over, cos acceptance of the bodies is also acceptance of the bodycount. The only times they've disposed of bodies is after mass executions, as with the police force in the East in '90, and when they executed all the captured Navy personnel at Pooneryn.

    "The Army, Navy and Air Force should be dismantled and established the SLDF, which is commanded by the National Defense Council (NDC). The NDC should be headed by the President."

    I don't think having a politician in command of the SLDF is a very good idea! The SLDF should be commanded by an infantry general. An NDC should be ONLY a policy-making body, and if at all should be chaired by the SecDef.

    "Did he actually expect SLAF to use MiG27s to bomb AAB to destroy the entire base along with black tigers and be done with it?"

    I think what he meant was, what's the point spending billions on high-tech aircraft if those high-tech aircraft caan be knocked out in one night by 21 low-tech Black Tigers. He might have a point.

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  159. Asithri,
    Lets wait for the conclusion of the inquiry.I hope it is made public because the general public is the best source of information we have.
    however credit must be given to the airforce for their efforts for 1)Being capable of launching a joint co-ordinated operation with the SForces(another branch of SLDF)-They didnt say "agollo hamudawe" and start shooting them.
    2)Fighing well since it appears they lacked sufficient airforce personnel to patrol the airbase.A +++.
    Shooting that bell helicopter although tragic demonstrates that they were determined.. determined ..not to allow any of these dirty black coolies to escape.You cannot really blame the officers because they undertook that level of security they always take.What is needed is a "kick ass" general like the Gen appointed by Hon pres to kick their arses with more vigourous training routines and keep these guys on their toes.
    A happy outcome of this event is that the forces killed most of them before they ran amock in local villages and got into the "baby bashing" routine
    .They actually came to have a party but found that things had changed and started dispersing within the airbase when confronted with force.So did the airforce do that badly?.
    Whatever anyone may say some of these guys wanted to return (including suicide bombers-carrying a suicide kit on your back does not necessaryly follow that you intended to blow yourself or are a suicide bomber-you could however have intended to plant it in the airbase and takeout advancing army units-kill as many advancing soldiers as possible once you controlled the airbase)to carryout similar attackes in the future.20 years ago these guys would have massacred several villages and flown all the planes out as well and their parents would have received them with garlands.This is why these fellows are smarting about this "body" issue.If it was me i would not have even bothered to take any photos.After incinaration i would have flushed their remains down the toilet.Take it from me that certain parties up north are fumeing that they lost 21 cadres.

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  160. I think we must give more protection to ships and army vehicles( arti & MBRLs ) too bcos they may try to give this kind of attack to them also.

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  161. The question is:If they really wanted to die why retreat?.You can take at least one soldier with you and get killed.the fact is that the army blocked their retreat with the help of Airforce.So they had to die.

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  162. Hemantha.. thanks for your comments.Fighting tooth and nail will do us good.It will unite all peace loving peoples of SLanka (except terrorist elements)regardless of race even more.Hemantha do you know how many suicide bombers were in this elite LTTE "sas" unit?.The unnecessary pics on defense.lk did not show many suicide kits.

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  163. I think David Blacker was point on in regards to the dead LTTE bodies. Some bloggers should wise up and be more matured.

    Do you really think the by insulting the dead and stripping them you are a hero. Look at the photos. It was a delibrate attempt to humiliate the dead LTTE and also tell the people look they are all dead, no this place is safe.

    It simply means that if your house is robbed, you will not trust the police and that your place is safe until they show you his dead body.

    As far as the continuing taunting of Ranil and the UNP in this blog. I want to know such damages to the airforce (3 times) and twice in 6 months was done during the UNP rule.

    When Ranil signed the CFA he foxed the LTTE into a stalemate. They needed a breather from 9/11 and Ranil used it against them. During UNP rule,they ordered the beechcraft which helped take out the LTTE floating warehouses.

    This was celebrated by SLFP by fanciful parades etc. Today why is GOTA not resigning for the loss of the planes.

    I believe that a hardline leader like Bush, Mahindha look good at the start as they seem to get the results. However in the long run they do more damage then the rest.

    If the LTTE is anytime closer to achieving an EELAM, I guess its now. It does not mean they will but they have wanted Mahindha to achieve this.

    I do not support the UNP who are one of the primary reasons for this conflict.

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  164. David
    100% agree with you mate. It's pretty stupid for gosl to claim this attacks as a cowardly attack cos whatever said and done and which side we're cheering....these 21 men and women achieved their objective with flying colors... we have to respect that courage cos those folks are also sri lankans and they fought bravely against a superior enemy...
    It's really pathetic the way gosl and sldf handled the whole dead black tigers issue... If at all it'll further strengthen the morale of the ltte fighting cadre and not the other way around...
    It's shameful beyond comparison the low levels sldf folks have gone into with this... we were outsmarted by 21 elite tigers and the best we can do is to parade their naked bodies in public...how sick is that... pathetic

    btw david...you didn't join our offroading friends this weekend for their weekend adventure?

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  165. Sri Lankan, which planet are you on?

    Coordinated defense? Don't make me laugh. The SLAF had lost control of most of the airbase north of the runway and could not dislodge the Tigers even in daylight. The Army saved their arses. If not the Tigers would still be there.

    And you're actually commending the SLAF for shooting down our own aircraft???? Jesus.

    "They actually came to have a party but found that things had changed and started dispersing within the airbase when confronted with force.So did the airforce do that badly?."

    This is pure fantasy. Have you actually managed to delude yourself into thinking this is some sort of victory? The Tigers came in to destroy the SLAF's recce and surveillance capability and die in the attempt. They did it almost completely. So yes, saying the SLAF did badly is to put it very mildly. They did fucking horribly is how I'd put it. Thank God the MoD agrees and they've now put the Army in charge of airbase security.

    Coming up with fairy tales about preventing the Tigers attacking villages and magically flying out the aircraft is laughable. We got our butts kicked badly. Swallow your pride and get over it. No war is defeat free.

    To learn from defeat you must first admit its a defeat, and then take it apart and analyse it, not stick your head in the sand and pretend it's some sort of victory.

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  166. Hey, Ranil, no, planning to go down to Hikka instead.

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  167. "During UNP rule,they ordered the beechcraft which helped take out the LTTE floating warehouses."

    I doubt if the Beech HISAR was actively involved in the most recent destruction of the LTTE floating warehouses, although it would have been involved in the earlier detection of LTTE weapons smuggling ships closer to land (early this year and last year).

    The latest interceptions were at a range of 1200km to 1700km from land. The Beech Super King Air has a range of only 3,300km (max 1600km each way). The Raytheon radar in the maritime surveillance mode can detect ships out to a range of around 200km. So although theoretically within range, unless they knew the exact position of the ships at a given time, the Beech wouldn't have the loitering capacity to search the area, especially in the case of the latter interception. If we believe the SLN account that they had to wait for several days (if not a week or so) for the LTTE ships to turn up, its unlikely the HISAR was involved in flying that far out to sea on a daily basis to detect the ships.

    In the case of the deep sea interceptions, I think the credit goes mostly to naval intelligence.

    The loss of the HISAR is a still a big loss though. However the biggest loss from the HISAR is not in terms of maritime recon (which the SLN can manage with their OPV's for the time being), but in the loss of the AEW, and ground target detection capabilities which were also provided by the Raytheon radar.

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  168. David
    aahh yes... good ol mumbo's... :)
    couple of leo buggers will be there too...

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  169. david blacker,i beg to differ on your comment that israel is a civilized first world country.they are not as they seem to appear.their occupation of palestinian homelands & driving them forcibly out & making palestinians refugees in their own country is sick..

    I was overjoyed when hizbollah gave the so-called mighty israeli's something to think about last year,when around 80+ israeli troops felt their arse's heating up-he.he.no offense,DB,but i think israeli's are officially-sanctioned barbarian's,supported by uncle SAM,of course!!(the jewish lobby in the us runs the USA)

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  170. Daily news article about Anuradhapura Air Base attack.

    http://www.dailynews.lk/2007/10/26/
    fea02.asp

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  171. Dear David,
    Your comments are well received. As you know i am no military man by a longshot but why do i get the feeling these guys didnt just want to destroy only the aircraft.They wanted to mine the base and escape into the jungle to create havoc another day...kill innocent people.They naturally assumed they will die but not before doing a lot more damage than they did..not just materials.If the airforce soldiers were not there..say all killed what would have happened?.what i want to know is did the airforce engage them till the army got there?....I think the worst scenario would have been if they did what they came to do and saved themselves as well.

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  172. Defencenet,

    The dailynews article gives the registration number of the Beech that was destroyed as CR842 and year of acquisition as 1984. That is the Beech SIGNIT. The HISAR was CR843.

    Can you confirm whether is was the HISAR or the less valuable SIGNIT that was destroyed?

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  173. http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20071026_09

    I remember telling that we have to precautions when handling explosives like this...

    What a disaster...

    Tamilnet claims it was a clamour blast...

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  174. I wouldn't expect anything less than that from you, Rifard. But thank God for those "officially-sanctioned barbarians" who have supported us throughout this war, and without whom we wouldn't have the UAV capability we did. :)

    "They wanted to mine the base and escape into the jungle to create havoc another day...kill innocent people"

    That's just an assumption not based on reality, SL. The Tigers learned from the Katu raid (obviously we didn't). They know there's no escape from such a deep penetraation raid. And there has never been even one instance of a Black Tiger unit escaping after such an attack -- CBSL, Katu, Kolonnawa, etc. They came to destroy the aircraft and die -- they succeeded.

    The SLAF security detail isn't there to kill Tigers after they've blown up the planes, they're to STOP the the planes being blown up. So patting them on the back because the Tigers are dead isn't very useful. The planes are gone. The Tigers exchanged 21 Black Tigers for 8 aircraft; all we did was close the deal.

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  175. I understand that israel is a long-time supplier of weapons to SL,but they are not our only weapons-superstore!!..take Iran,South africa,russia & other countries for example..now we have to turn towards the czech republic for UAV's,if i'm not mistaken?

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  176. Adding to my previous comments,almost every israeli-weapons deal is riddled with corruption.take the SAAR-4 boat deal,TCM-20AAA deal,Kfir deal,etc..their motive is typical,cunning jewish-maximum profit at any cost-i.e,weapons malfunctioning on a regular basis..

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  177. THE TARGETS OF terror outfits are unpredictable. But their final goal is always aimed at terrorising society to bring pressures on Governments to accede to their demands or to put a stop to any campaign against them.
    Going through the nature of LTTE attacks targeting Security Forces or civilian targets, it is obvious that they resort to such attacks as they are either in a desperate situation or as a provocative act to get the Government Forces to do battle with it.
    The LTTE clearly showed its desperation and also its weak position with their attack on an isolated Army detachment inside the Yala National Park hundreds of miles away from the battlefronts in the Wanni last week. That was a clear attempt to divert the attention of the Security Forces from the Wanni, where the LTTE was receiving a severe beating.
    However, their second attack within a week, this time targeting the air assets of the Sri Lanka Air Force came in a well planned manner. The aim of the LTTE is to get rid of the huge pressure exerted by the Air Force, which has made it tough going for the outfit in the Wanni.
    This time they have launched the attack targeting the air assets of the Sri Lanka Air Force, disregarding even the human cost involved in the attack as the Tigers are very keen on getting rid of this huge headache which hinder all its efforts to go for all out war against the Security Forces in the Wanni battle fronts.
    Having failed in three consecutive attempts to make use of their novel but crude air capability to destroy SLAF air assets, in early this year, Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran this time retained high faith on their usual ground fighters to launch this attack on the Anuradhapura air base.
    It was around 3.30 a.m. when the Airmen manning the guard post close to the new Nuwara road in the North Eastern edge of the runway from the direction of the Nuwara Wewa, detected the Tiger infiltration into the air base by cutting open the barbed wire fences of the Air Base.
    That edge of the runway of the Air Base was subjected to controversy recently, with the launch of the ongoing runway extension project, with civilians living there protesting against the project fearing they would lose their habitations for the runway expansion project.
    The Tiger cadres had cut off the double fence after disconnecting the sound mines and removing the anti-personnel mines to infiltrate into the Air Base.
    Therefore, it is believed that the Tiger cadres who infiltrated the Air Base were highly trained cadres on mine clearing and were capable of defusing sound mines which needs higher level of training.
    As the Tiger cadres infiltrated into the Air Base, the airmen manning the Guard post at the edge of the Air Base, fired at the Tiger movements coming out of the Guard post.
    The airmen there escaped from the RPG attack of the LTTE as they fired at the LTTE movements taking cover behind the sand bank, coming out of the Guard post.
    With the RPG fire at the Guard Post, the entire Air Base was alerted and the airmen manning the guard posts in the North of the runway also detected the Tiger movement and started firing at them. But the Tiger cadres were careful enough not to direct fire at them fearing that they would be exposed.
    The Tigers took cover behind earth mounds on the edge of the runway piled there for construction of the runway extension.
    The Tiger cadres moved fast through this area which was about 600 to 700 metres without firing any RPGs at any of the guard posts despite the airmen guarding an elevated guard post at the edge of the runway firing at the Tiger movement, in order to reach the runway quickly.

    By this time the entire Air Base had been alerted about the LTTE infiltration and the airmen who detected the Tiger movement started firing from various directions.

    An Armoured Personnel Carrier of the SLAF also emerged from the Northern side of the runway, directing fire at the Tiger cadres who were reaching the edge of the runway from the North East direction.

    But the gunner on top was hit by Tiger fire and the APC ground to a halt close to the hanger of the Air Base with damage caused to its tyres.

    By that time the Tiger cadres had already reached the North Eastern edge of the runway passing the earth mounds on that part of the runway extension project.

    The Tiger cadres broke into two groups at the edge of the runway, one group moving from the southern direction and another group moving from the Northern direction of the runway. A larger group, compared to the other group moved from the southern direction of the runway.

    The group moving from the southern direction of the runway first fired RPGs at two PT-6 basic trainer aircraft parked at the south east end of the runway. The two aircraft were damaged in the Tiger fire.
    By this time the Tiger cadres were facing heavy resistance from the airmen since the whole Air Base had by now come fully awake. Meanwhile, the group moving from the Northern side of the runway also started firing at the Guard Posts in front of the Hanger amidst heavy resistance from the airmen manning the bunkers.
    The group moving from the southern side of the runway had reached the centre of the runway and fired another RPG at two MI-24 combat helicopter gunships. One helicopter gunship was completely destroyed in the fire but the damages caused to the other helicopter were minor.

    By this time the group which were moving from the Northern end of the runway was facing stiff resistance. As they were a small group they could not sustain the fire from the Air Force troops. Therefore, the group which moved from the southern direction turned towards the Northern side of the runway with the objective of reaching and destroying more aircraft.

    As the team reached the middle of the runway the group was fired at from the Air Traffic Control tower located on the Northern end of the runway. From the southern end too there was stiff resistance to the group. As the LTTE team reached the centre of the runway from the southern flank there was an explosion as one suicide cadre was hit by Air Force fire.

    Some eight or 10 Tiger cadres were believed to have died in the blast and the entire group was liquidated except for one or two cadres.

    Reinforcements were rushed to the Air Base from the adjoining army camps by this time as two Guard Posts located on a high rise in front of the hanger was taken control of by the Tigers together with the anti-aircraft guns.

    The fourth attack of the LTTE directed towards the B 200 T Beech craft parked in the Northern side of the runway. The beech craft surveillance plane were reduced to ashes in the Tiger fire. Then the K-8 jet trainer parked closer to the hanger was hit by Tiger fire and it went up in a blaze and was completely destroyed.

    The Tiger cadres who took control of the Two Guard Posts in front of the hanger started firing at the Air Control Tower and an Air Force officer was killed by a sniper shot from a Tiger cadre who was on a tree close to the Guard Post.

    By this time the Tiger cadres started directing fire at the Hangar. Due to the fire directed at the hangar three aircraft, one MI-17 Medium Lift helicopter, PT-6 Basic Pilot Trainer aircraft and a Bell jet ranger 206 helicopter were destroyed.

    At this moment a Bell helicopter fitted with guns took wing from the Vavuniya Air Base in support of the troops at the Anuradhapura Air Base.

    The radars at the Vavuniya Air Base also detected, two Tiger aircraft that had taken off from the Wanni and were heading towards Anuradhapura.

    While the guns were blazing inside the airbase the two Tiger fixed wing aircraft appeared on the scene and dropped four bombs, but no damage was done by this since the bombs fell on a vacant plot close to the Army camps.

    A few cattle lying closer to the airbase were killed by these bombs. The two aircraft hovered around for only about two or three minutes before heading in the direction of Vavuniya with their mission unsuccessful. It was between 4.20 and 4.23 am by the time the two aircraft moved away after their abortive foray.

    Due to the confusion inside the air base and also due to neutralising of the anti-aircraft guns by the infiltrated Tiger cadres, no action could have been taken against the two aircraft since non of the aircraft could be taken out of the air base.

    By the time the LTTE aircraft were returning the Bell helicopter which was heading towards Anuradhapura also crashed in Doramadalawa due to suspected technical failure. The last reaction of the pilots had been heard at 4.21 am prior to the crash at Doramadalawa in Mihintale. Air Force Investigations are now on to ascertain the reason for the crash.

    The Special Forces troops were called into the Air Base as the two bunkers which were under the control of the Tiger cadres could not be neutralised at day break on Monday.

    The Air Force troops backed by the Special Forces, launched a major assault on the two Guard Posts in order to neutralise the Tiger cadres there. It was following this assault on the two Guard Posts that the Security Forces could take full control of the Air Base, by around 8 am in the morning.

    In the search operations troops took a head count of 19 Tigers dead and collected their strewn body parts. Therefore, it has now been confirmed that 21 senior level Black Tiger cadres were killed in the attack.

    Twelve Air Force personnel including two officers, were also killed in the confrontations while 20 others sustained injuries.

    We produce here a graphic illustrating the number of aircraft destroyed on the ground with such details as the year of purchase of these aircraft and their registered numbers.

    Apart from these aircraft a number of other aircraft were also slightly damaged in the attack due to the heat effect and flying shrapnel.

    The SLAF is now assessing the extent of damage caused to these aircraft in order to repair them and reintroduced to the fleet.

    Following this deadly attack on the Anuradhapura air base the Defence Ministry under the instructions of President Mahinda Rajapaksa appointed Major General Sanath Karunaratne as the Overall Operations Commander of Anuradhapura.

    Accordingly he will be in charge of all operational matters connected to Armed Force and the Police, Civil Security Department, Intelligence Agencies and also the commercial security firms in the Anuradhapura district. Two committees of the Sri Lanka Air Force, the Criminal Investigation Department, Police and the Defence Ministry are conducting separate investigations into the incident.

    It has now been revealed that the Tiger cadres have reached the Air Base from the direction of the Nuwara Wewa connected to Pulleyar junction of Anuradhapura.

    The CID is also investigating whether the beheading of a civilian called Daniel Appuhamhy, a wood cutter in the nearby jungle in Kannaliya Ashokapura, too was connected to the incident.

    The rubber slippers found close to his body was similar to that of the rubber slippers found along with the Tiger bodies.

    Therefore, the path taken by the Tiger cadres and whether there was any security lapse at the Air Force Base will be revealed with the completion of these investigations.

    The attack on the Sri Lanka Air Force base came as no surprise considering the extent of damage caused by the Air Force to the Tiger military and logistic capabilities in the Wanni in the recent air attack targeting LTTE training camps, military bases and logistics facilities.

    Though the LTTE could not achieve any success, despite the Tiger media campaign displaying its crude air planes, the SLAF achieved much success using its limited air resources within the past few months. The SLAF created a situation for the LTTE to limit its training activities with the number of air attacks targeting LTTE training bases.

    The most recent successful air raid targeting an LTTE training base was at Chempankundu, in Pooneryn in which more than 60 cadres were killed and 40 injured. That was a huge blow to the LTTE as they could not conduct any military training openly in the Wanni whilst also sparing many civilians from being recruited for compulsory military training.

    Apart from this the air attacks on the LTTE fuel dumps and ammunition dumps has put the LTTE in a desperate situation.

    The destruction of the LTTE ships in international waters coupled with these air attacks have pushed the LTTE to the brink in the ongoing battles in the Wanni.

    The following list of air attacks and the confirmed results gives a clear picture as to why the LTTE targeted Sri Lanka Air Force Base in Anuradhapura which was the most vulnerable for attacks.

    Whatever the losses caused due to the LTTE attack, the SLAF’s fighting capability remains intact, with their fighter jets continuing their usual air raids against the Tiger hideouts in the Wanni.

    Therefore, the attack on the SLAF Base in Anuradhapura is a clear indication of the success of the SLAF attacks on LTTE targets and its inability to withstand attacks of this nature.
    (Courtesy : Daily News)

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  178. Sorry about the length of this article on defense.lk

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  179. Ha Ha. Some fake LTTE web blog,

    http://thinkfreed.blogspot.com/2007/10/paradise-isle-and-its-conspiracy.html


    OaO Assithri (note the additional S in Assithri) also posting there LOL.. :-)

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  180. Can someone pls confirm how many & what model make of Triple-A guns did we have at Anuradhapura AB,pls..

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  181. SLAF has been lucky to move the HISAR to Amapara for Eastern Maritime Recon , and got the SIGNIT lost, which does not have the long-range and advanced recon.

    But it is nothing to celebrate compared to what has been lost overall.

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  182. Well, if HISAR is safe (still to be officially confirmed) then thank god for small mercies. That still doesn't excuse the pathetic performance of the SLAF that night. They should have at least got the damn thing off the ground and used it to find out where the LTTE planes landed, even if we cant intercept them, we could have then bombed them on the ground. Then again might not have been a good idea in case it got shot down by our own people. That type of thing is bound to happen in the heat of battle until we put a proper air defence system into place with IFF recognition, i.e. not manually operated AA guns and MANPAD's.

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  183. First of all, the Beech HISAR was not heavily involved in the sinking of the LTTE cargo ships. The navy OPVs did that job. Remember that the OPVs have maritime surveillance radars installed in them too. Besides OPVs can travel deeper into the sea than Beech HISARs because they have a much longer range. So now we have to protect these ships like our lives depend on it.


    hemantha

    We have to wait before we start the Wanni offensive because onquering territory can be easy compared to holding on to it. This is what the Iraq war taught everyone. First we must solidify our grip in the East, the best way to do that is start the rebuilding process, create jobs there(very important) and win the trust and support of the locals. If these things are accomplished the LTTE will find in impossible to recapture the East. Remember we are still a 3rd world country, our economy can't take much pusnishment, and the Wanni offensive will seriously hamper economic growth, which we need to make our country more properous. A more prosperous country means we can buy much better weapons, training and facilities. My point is, get the economy right and the rest will fall into place. Thats why the LTTE wants to go after economic targets.

    Don't worry, the Wanni offensive will come but not now, first WE MUST GAIN FULL CONTROL OF THE SEAS and concentrate on better economic growth. I think these two objectives can be accomplised in 2 years time.

    BTW, I don't think VP is investing too much the Hillary's presidency, things have changed since 9/11. The republicans are eager to take back control of the congress, what better way than jumping on your opponent's mistake.

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  184. To gain full control on the seas we need more OPVs. After we gain full control of the seas, the LTTE occupied Wanni will truly become isolated from the rest of the world. We are blessed to be an island never forget that, its much easier to control what comes into a country through seas than through land(land borders). See whats happening in the US/Mexico border, Iraq/Iran border, Afghan/Pak border? not pretty eh?

    Remember, the main line of contact that the LTTE has with the outside world is through the seas. Cut that line and the LTTE will suffer. Then we can hammer into Wanni with a well prepared military offensive that will crush the LTTE militarily.

    The LTTE can be crushed militarily but the LTTE ideology will live on, just the way the remnants of the Nazi ideology still surives to this day.

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  185. Israel is only a namesake democracy in the Middle East. They have chosen to ignore so many UN Security Council Resolutions over the past decades. They commit violent and inhuman acts of oppression and aggresssion on innocent Palestinian women and children. They have tens of thousands of Palestinians in prison in Israel without any trial or recourse to justice and human rights. Anyone who supports them must be one of them only

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  186. fazil sameer..it is not that simple.There is much more to this than meets the eye.

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  187. "I understand that israel is a long-time supplier of weapons to SL,but they are not our only weapons-superstore!!."

    Never said they were the only ones. But they (and Apartheid South Africa) suported us in many ways whn others would not, especially in the '80s and early '90s. When SL had no facilities for training airborne troops, it was Israel and Pakistan that provided facilities. When India started to cut off supply of prosthetics to crippled soldiers, it was Israel that provided it. Lets not forget our old allies just because we have new ones.

    "Adding to my previous comments,almost every israeli-weapons deal is riddled with corruption"

    Don't be foolish Rifard. Are you saying that ONLY the Israeli deals are corrupt? Israel sells weapons to many nations. If there's corruption, it is because the buyers are corrupt.

    "cunning jewish-maximum profit at any cost-i.e,weapons malfunctioning on a regular basis.."

    Rifard you are letting your religious bigotry blind you. I could easily say "Cunning Muslim-maximum profit..." and most Sri Lankans would agree with me. As a minority I expected more from you. I am very disappointed. I guess even the most intelligent have their bigotry.

    "Israel is only a namesake democracy in the Middle East. They have chosen to ignore so many UN Security Council Resolutions over the past decades. "

    Israel is the ONLY democracy in the ME. The others are all ruled by despotic, corrupt, and oppressive royal families. Most SL Muslims just blindly support anyone who's a Muslim, no matter how bad they are, from Sadddam Hussein to Ghaddaffi to Idi Amin, as long as they are Muslims they are ok, no?

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  188. Just to put the record straight:
    --------------------------------

    The impression given that 11th UAV Squadron has been 'decimated' following the attack is bunkum.

    How the hell do you think SLAF took TC so accurately with the jets if not for aerial int from UAV's?

    SLAF does not keep all its eggs in one basket. Not all the UAV's were deployed at Anuradhapura. Anyway, Anuradhapura is not the home of 11 UAV Squadron anyway.

    11 UAV Squadron was back on line in double quick time and will continue to give a good account of itself in the days to come...

    However, the LTTE attack did target vital int gathering assets i.e. UAV and Beachcraft as these are the thorn in the LTTE flesh.

    The Mi-17 was too big a target to miss at close range while the Mi-24's out in the open rivertment were a bonus.

    Some of the PT-6's were ignored and a few suffered damage due to heat inside the hanger when the Mi-17 and Jet Ranger blewup. 1FTW is back in business again...

    Therefore, it is safe to assume that the LTTE this-time-around targeted the SLAF int gathering assets while the July 24 2001 attack on Katunayake targeted the attack jets.

    While everyone(including SLAF top brass) were concentrating on the fast-birds (jets aka Kfir's and Migs)- what one would call the 'shooters' ignoring the vital importance of the 'sensors'; the UAV's and Beachcraft, their importance was not lost to the enemy.

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  189. Aslam:

    "PT6 is not a Jet Trainer. These were used in 80s and early 90s to fight against LTTE and now attached to the pilot training unit over there in Anuradhapura Air Force base".

    Wrong mate. PT-6's sure are not jet trainers i.e. K-8's as our infamous 'defence analysts/consultant/expert and whatever..' Iqbal Biggles Athas - kept trying to depict and posit in two consecutive ST Situation Reports that several K-8's were destroyed in the hangar while showing a pic of a PT-6. So much for his expertise...

    The PT-6 entered service with SLAF in 2000 as a basic trainer to replace the Cessna 150's which was the basic trainer for many decades. While they can be armed, they never saw comat in the '80/'90's....

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  190. David:

    You (or anyone else for that matter) could not have said it any better...

    “The SLAF security detail isn't there to kill Tigers after they've blown up the planes, they're to STOP the the planes being blown up. So patting them on the back because the Tigers are dead isn't very useful. The planes are gone. The Tigers exchanged 21 Black Tigers for 8 aircraft; all we did was close the deal.”

    That's ANP (and KAT) in a nut-shell.

    “To learn from defeat you must first admit its a defeat, and then take it apart and analyse it, not stick your head in the sand and pretend it's some sort of victory.”

    We are still in the “ stick your head in the sand” mode, unfortunately, and the top brass are doing their bit to come out of it smelling-of-roses.

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  191. Janaka De Silva,

    i agree about "Defense Analyst" athas ;)

    any kid can say the K-8 and PT-6s apart.


    "While they can be armed, they never saw combat in the '80/'90's"

    I assume you are referring to the PT-6? I thought they were unarmed?

    The Chinese had only made a few armed prototypes didn’t they? Does the PT-6 have hard points? Or do they have MGs in the wigs or wing roots like the good ol days??

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  192. Janaka De Silva,

    BTW i would like to invite you to another blog:

    http://www.lankanewspapers.com/news/2006/9/8415.html

    I think you can make a valuable contribution there too.

    thanks and may the triple jem and all the gods bless you guys in service...

    good hunting

    ReplyDelete
  193. Nice blog.

    The spy equipment is used in the military purpose so that we can trace the person or animals from the far places by using the spy camera.

    ReplyDelete

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