Commander of the Air Force (Sri Lanka)
Appearance
Commander of the Sri Lanka Air Force | |
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ශ්රී ලංකා ගුවන් හමුදාපති | |
since 30 June 2023 | |
Sri Lanka Air Force | |
Member of | National Security Council |
Reports to | Ministry of Defence Chief of Defence Staff |
Residence | Air Force House, Colombo |
Seat | Air Force Headquarters, Kumaran Rutnam road, Colombo 2 |
Appointer | The President |
Term length | Not fixed |
Constituting instrument | Air Force Act, No. 41 of 1949 |
Formation | 2 March 1951 as Commander of the Royal Ceylon Air Force |
First holder | Group Captain Graham Bladon (as Commander RCyAF) |
Deputy | Chief of Staff of the Sri Lanka Air Force |
Website | Official website |
Sri Lanka Air Force |
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Components |
General Information |
History |
Aircraft |
Leadership and ranks |
The Commander of the Air Force is the professional head of the Sri Lanka Air Force. The current Commander of the Air Force is Air Marshal Sudarshana Pathirana. It is a position comparable to that of Chief of the Air Staff of the Royal Air Force. The Chief of Staff of the Air Force acts as a deputy commander within the command structure.
All serving air force commanders have been of the rank of air marshal, promoted to the honorary rank of air chief marshal on retirement or on appointment to Chief of Defence Staff (CDS).
List of commanders
[edit]No. | Picture | Commander | Took office | Left office | Time in office | Unit | Ref. |
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1 | Air Commodore Graham Bladon CBE (1899–1967) | 5 May 1950 | 24 October 1958 | 8 years, 172 days | – | [1] | |
2 | Air Vice Marshal John Barker CB, CBE, DFC (1910–2004) | 24 October 1958 | 12 November 1962 | 4 years, 19 days | – | [1] | |
3 | Rohan Amerasekera DFC & Bar (1916–1974) | Air Vice Marshal12 November 1962 | 31 December 1970 | 8 years, 49 days | No. 2 Squadron SLAF | [1] | |
4 | Deshamanya Paddy Mendis (1933–2022) | Air Chief Marshal1 January 1971 | 1 November 1976 | 5 years, 305 days | No. 2 Squadron SLAF No. 5 Squadron SLAF | [1] | |
5 | Harry Goonatilake USP (1929–2008) | Air Chief Marshal1 November 1976 | 30 April 1981 | 4 years, 180 days | No. 2 Squadron SLAF | [1] | |
6 | Dick Perera VSV | Air Chief Marshal1 May 1981 | 30 April 1985 | 3 years, 364 days | No. 2 Squadron SLAF | [1] | |
7 | Walter Fernando VSV | Air Chief Marshal1 May 1985 | 31 July 1990 | 5 years, 91 days | No. 4 Squadron SLAF | [1] | |
8 | Terry Gunawardena VSV | Air Chief Marshal1 August 1990 | 16 February 1994 | 3 years, 199 days | No. 2 Squadron SLAF | [1] | |
9 | Oliver Ranasinghe RWP, VSV, USP | Air Chief Marshal17 February 1994 | 5 March 1998 | 4 years, 16 days | No. 5 Squadron SLAF | [1] | |
10 | Jayalath Weerakkody RWP, VSV, USP | Air Chief Marshal6 March 1998 | 15 July 2002 | 4 years, 131 days | No. 2 Squadron SLAF No. 4 Squadron SLAF | [1] | |
11 | Donald Perera VSV, USP | Air Chief Marshal16 July 2002 | 11 June 2006 | 3 years, 330 days | No. 2 Squadron SLAF | [1] | |
12 | Roshan Goonetileke RWP, VSV, USP (born 1956) | Marshal of the Air Force11 June 2006 | 27 February 2011 | 4 years, 261 days | No. 4 Squadron SLAF | [1] | |
13 | Harsha Abeywickrama RWP, RSP, VSV, USP | Air Chief Marshal27 February 2011 | 27 February 2014 | 3 years, 0 days | No. 5 Squadron SLAF | [1] | |
14 | Kolitha Gunathilake RWP, RSP, VSV, USP | Air Chief Marshal27 February 2014 | 15 June 2015 | 1 year, 108 days | No. 2 Squadron SLAF | [1] | |
15 | Gagan Bulathsinghala RWP, RSP, USP, VSV (born 1961) | Air Chief Marshal15 June 2015 | 12 September 2016 | 1 year, 89 days | No. 4 Squadron SLAF | [1] | |
16 | Kapila Jayampathy WWV, RWP, RSP, VSV, USP | Air Chief Marshal13 September 2016 | 29 May 2019 | 2 years, 258 days | No. 4 Squadron SLAF | [1] | |
17 | Sumangala Dias RSP | Air Chief Marshal30 May 2019 | 2 November 2020 | 1 year, 156 days | No. 6 Squadron SLAF | [1] | |
18 | Sudarshana Pathirana WWV, RWP, RSP, VSV, USP | Air Chief Marshal2 November 2020 | 29 June 2023 | 2 years, 239 days | No. 5 Squadron SLAF No. 10 Squadron SLAF | – | |
19 | Udeni Rajapaksa RWP, VSV, USP | Air Marshal30 June 2023 | Incumbent | 1 year, 181 days | No. 2 Squadron SLAF No. 8 Squadron SLAF | – |