History of the Sri Lanka Air Force

Because of a severe shortage of hard currency for military expenditures in the wake of the 1971 uprising, the Number Four Squadron(Helicopter) began operating commercial transportation services for foreign tourists under the name of Helitours.

Rapid growth began in the mid-1980s, when the Sri Lankan Civil War drew the service into a major, long-term security role.

After the purchase of equipment from Canada in 1986, the air force gained the capability to make structural repairs on its fleet of Bell helicopters, several of which had been damaged in operations against the Tamil separatists.

The earliest aircraft were small transport airplanes and trainers, that were provided by the British and were supplemented in the late 1960s with United States Bell Helicopters.

During insurgency, the left-leaning Bandaranaike government turned to the Soviet Union for more sophisticated weaponry, and received five MiG-17F fighter bombers, a MiG-15 UTI Midget trainer, and two Ka-26 helicopters.

By the early 1980s, the Provosts and all of the Soviet aircraft had been taken out of active service and were relegated to long-term storage, leaving the air force without any bomber capability.

Because of tight budget constraints, the air force was compelled to refit a number of non combat aircraft for military uses in counter-terrorist operations against Tamil terrorists.

The Women's Wing was set up to maintain and update all records pertaining to Lady Officers and Airwomen, prepare promotional schedules, annual assessments, issue identity cards, etc.

Sri Lanka's airport has remained on alert for a repeat of the 2001 attack, with severe restrictions on the number of people allowed into the terminal buildings.

Huge walls were also built around the terminals and the control towers to prevent impact from car bomb attacks, while a large number of sentries were placed along the approach roads to the facility.