Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Israeli boost for SLAF surveillance capability

The Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) has taken delivery of an advanced type of UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) from Israel.

Authoritative sources said the acquisition of UAVs would compensate for the loss of equipment in the LTTE raid on the Anuradhapura SLAF base last October.

The recently acquired UAVs have been deployed in the northern theatre with the focus on the 12 kilometre front which runs through Kilali, Muhamalai and Nagarkovil on the Jaffna east coast. Capable of day and night operations, the latest addition would considerably improve the SLAF’s capacity to detect an LTTE build-up against the armed forces deployed in the Jaffna peninsula.

The deployment of UAVs was of critical importance to the ongoing SLAF campaign against LTTE positions in the Vanni, sources said. The SLAF action was two-fold, they said. Operations were being carried out in support of the ground offensive and to destroy conventional capability of the enemy.

The first deployment of UAVs by the SLAF took place in 1996 during Air Marshal Oliver Ranasinghe’s tenure as the Commander. The MI 24 helicopter gunships and Kfirs, a modern multi-role fighter aircraft with a formidable weapons platform, too, were first acquired that year.

Read more,
http://www.island.lk/2008/07/16/news2.html

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