The LTTE credits the formation of the Sky Tigers air-wing to Vythialingam Sornalingam, known by his nom de guerre Colonel Shankar, a diploma graduate of Hartley College in Point Pedro.

Earlier in the month, the web-based news agency reported (November 19, 1998) an unidentified aircraft allegedly belonging to the LTTE had been spotted in the Thondamanaaru region in Jaffna by Sri Lankan Navy officials.

Sri Lankan newspapers corroborated the discovery of an R44 Astro [9] and also suggested that Australian LTTE contacts had facilitated the purchase of two Australian-made AirBorne microlight aircraft.

[13] Commenting about this technique, the Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa told the media that that was the first time the world had encountered such a terrorist tactic.

Also, the aircraft had a small profile that made it easy to fly at a low level of around 300 feet(91m)[16] to avoid radar detection.

By swooping in on their targets at speeds of around 100 km/h, the Sky Tigers have ensured that their radar return could not be distinguished from that of a lorry, making them almost impossible to pick out.

[17] Since the military has put up anti-aircraft RADAR and stepped up combat air patrols, the rebels have usually kept their flights short[18] And the bonus is that the Sri Lankan authorities admitted after the first raid that they don't have the night-flying capability.

[22] When addressing the SLAF in 2020, Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa told the media about the Sky Tigers that, ...

A few weeks before the alleged aerial attack on Palali, the web-based news agency published a series of 'edited' images taken during the July 5 Black Tiger celebration, at an undisclosed location in the Tiger-held Wanni region.

[30][31] B. Raman, the head of the counter terrorism division of RAW said that "there was also some damage to the Israeli aircraft of the Sri Lankan Air Force.

On April 26, Sri Lanka's air defenses in Colombo fired into the sky following reports that unidentified aircraft had been spotted on radar.

[40] However, a few days later on the early morning of April 29, while the nation was watching the Cricket World Cup Final, a Tiger aircraft bombed two fuel storage facilities outside Colombo.

[44] Although the government played down the attack, Shell's Sri Lankan country director, Hassan Madan told the AFP "There was big damage to our fire-fighting facility and we estimate it will cost us in excess of 75m rupees ($700,000) to put things back".

On October 22, 2007, Sky Tigers launched a pre-dawn combined arms assault on a SLAF airbase at Anuradhapura, about 212 kilometers (132 mi) north of the capital, Colombo.

[49] On April 27, 2008, at approximately 1:45 am, at least two Sky Tiger aircraft dropped three bombs on military installations near the army forward defence lines in Manalaru.

[50] But LTTE has not released any details of its aerial attack[51] Government Defense Authorities claimed that they had sent Air Force interceptors to engage the Tiger aircraft, but they were unable to do so as it had already flown back before they reached the area.

[52] The Sri Lanka Navy confirmed that at least one LTTE plane dropped bombs on the naval base at Trincomalee on August 26, 2008.

[53][54] On September 9, 2008, during heavy fighting in the north, a Sky Tigers aircraft dropped bombs at a military base in Vavuniya, in northern Sri Lanka.

The Sky Tiger pilots who had participated in three consecutive successful air attacks received the Warriors Award of Tamil Eelam (Thamizheezha Ma'ravar Viruthu) and the Sky Tiger pilots who had participated in five consecutive successful air attacks received the Blue tiger Award of Tamil Eelam (Thamizheezha Niilappuli Viruthu), while Kiddu artillery formation received special awards for their performance in this specific attack.

The Sri Lankan government said there had been no major damage at either location, but that two of the turbines hit at the power plant would take six months to renovate.

[65] The Air Force claimed that a plane crashed into the IRD building when the pilot lost control due to anti-aircraft fire.

The second aircraft was shot down by anti-aircraft fire close to Bandaranaike International Airport; much of the plane was found intact with the body of the pilot and explosives inside.

In their military offensive in the north of the country, the Sri Lanka Armed Forces have reported the capture of seven airfields used by the Tigers.

The Sri Lanka Air Force has stated that it has plans to develop the two captured LTTE airfields in Iranamadu and Mullaittivu into operational SLAF airbases.