Every war the Sri Lanka Air Force has fought
Most of the Sri Lanka Air Force’s fighting was against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam between 1983 and 2009. Casualty figures from that war are contested and are attributed: a UN Secretary-General’s panel found credible allegations that as many as 40,000 civilians may have been killed in the final months, which the government rejected, calling the campaign a humanitarian operation. Where a consolidated sortie or loss figure exists in the official record it is given here; where accounts disagree, the range is shown and the disagreement named. Blank cells are blank because no figure could be verified, not because the fighting was small.
From the JVP insurrection of 1971 to UN peacekeeping in the Central African Republic today.
| Conflict | Years | Against | Main aircraft | Sorties | Aircraft lost | |
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| The 1971 JVP insurrectionthe Royal Ceylon Air Force’s first combatRoyal Ceylon Air Force | 1971 | Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) | Jet Provost, Bell 206 JetRanger, Bell 47Gand 1 more | 1 | ||
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Resupplied besieged police stations by helicopter and attacked insurgent positions with Jet Provosts. On 5 April 1971 the JVP, a Marxist movement of rural Sinhalese youth, attacked police stations across the island. The air force’s history recalls its commander, Air Commodore Paddy Mendis, three months into the job, being called to Temple Trees by Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike. The Jet Provosts, in storage since the 1960s, were serviced and armed in three days and flew from China Bay to Katunayake attacking rebel positions on the way; JetRangers flew ammunition and supplies to isolated police stations for twelve hours a day. Help arrived from across the Cold War divide: six Indian Chetak helicopters, spares by USAF C-141, Bell 47Gs, and on 22 April five Soviet MiG-17Fs, a MiG-15UTI and two Ka-26s flown in by An-22s with about 200 Soviet personnel. Outcome The insurrection was put down within weeks. Sorties and the air force’s own share of insurgent casualties are not published. The origin of the Bell 47Gs differs between Wikipedia articles.
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| Eelam War Ithe first phase of the civil warSri Lanka Air Force | 1983–1987 | LTTE and other Tamil militant groups | Bell 212, Bell 412, SF.260and 2 more | |||
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Helicopter gunship and transport support to the army; from 1987 bombing with converted Y-8 transports, including during Operation Liberation (Vadamarachchi) in May 1987. The war that began in 1983 transformed a small transport-and-training service. Between 1983 and 1987 the air force grew by nearly 50 per cent, to about 3,700 personnel by 1987; it bought 11 Bell 212s, four Bell 412s, three SF.260s, two Cessna 337s, an HS 748 and two King Airs between 1983 and 1985, and more helicopters afterwards. Of about 80 aircraft, 64 were reported operational in early 1988. From 1987 Chinese Y-8 transports were used as bombers. On 4 June 1987 India dropped about 25 tons of supplies over Jaffna from five An-32s escorted by Mirage 2000s (Operation Poomalai); Sri Lanka accused India of violating its sovereignty, and its air force did not intervene. Outcome Ended with the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord of July 1987 and the arrival of the Indian Peace Keeping Force. Figures are from Wikipedia’s history of the service; the air force’s own detailed history pages are no longer online.
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| Eelam War II1990–1995Sri Lanka Air Force | 1990–1995 | LTTE | F-7, J-5, Pucaráand 4 more | |||
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Close support, bombing, transport and casualty evacuation; the first fast jets since 1971 (F-7, J-5) and the first Pucarás and Mi-17s. After the Indian Peace Keeping Force left in 1990 the war resumed. The air force reformed No. 5 Squadron at Katunayake on 1 February 1991 with Chinese FT-5s and F-7s, and bought two J-5s; three Mi-17 transport helicopters and four Argentine Pucará attack aircraft followed in 1993. These years are among the least documented of the air war in accessible sources. Outcome Followed by Eelam War III from April 1995. Sorties, losses and casualties for this phase were not found in the sources checked and are left blank. |
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| Eelam War IIIRiviresa, Jayasikuru and the Katunayake attackSri Lanka Air Force | 1995–2002 | LTTE | Kfir, MiG-27, Mi-24and 4 more | |||
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Bombing and close support with Kfirs, MiG-27s, Mi-24s and Pucarás; transport to the besieged Jaffna peninsula. The LTTE opened this phase in April 1995 with a new weapon: shoulder-launched missiles, which brought down two Avro transports over the Jaffna peninsula and later Pucarás. On 9 July 1995 bombs struck a church sheltering refugees at Navaly. Human Rights Watch reported over one hundred dead and eyewitnesses blaming air force strikes, while military sources said they could not verify where the bombs came from; the ICRC’s figure rose from 65 to about 147 (as summarised by Wikipedia). The government first denied involvement. Kfirs from 1996 and MiG-27s from 2000 gave the air force a real strike force. Operation Jayasikuru (1997) was, in the air force’s words, its most arduous undertaking. On 24 July 2001 Black Tigers attacked Katunayake: TamilNet reported 13 aircraft destroyed that morning; Wikipedia lists eight military (two Kfirs, a MiG-27, a Mi-24, a Mi-17, three K-8s) and three SriLankan Airlines Airbuses. The Sunday Times put the attackers at 14. Outcome Ceasefire agreement of February 2002. Death tolls for the Avro shoot-downs were not confirmed in the sources checked. Personnel killed at Katunayake: four airmen (TamilNet, same day) to seven service personnel (Wikipedia); attackers killed: 12 to 14.
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| Eelam War IVthe final campaign, 2006–2009Sri Lanka Air Force | 2006–2009 | LTTE | Kfir, MiG-27, F-7Gand 3 more | |||
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Bombing, close support and interdiction with Kfirs, MiG-27s and Mi-24s; air defence against LTTE aircraft with F-7Gs and K-8s. Fighting resumed in 2006. Kfirs and MiG-27s flew daily strikes on LTTE targets; a Kfir and MiG-27 attack on a building at Kilinochchi on 2 November 2007 killed the head of the LTTE political wing, S. P. Thamilselvan, and five others, which the LTTE itself announced. Six F-7Gs arrived in 2008 to counter the LTTE’s light aircraft. The UN Secretary-General’s Panel of Experts (report dated 31 March 2011) found credible allegations that as many as 40,000 civilians may have been killed in the final months, most by government shelling, and that the LTTE used civilians as human shields and killed those trying to flee. Sri Lanka’s Ministry of External Affairs rejected the report as fundamentally flawed. The OHCHR investigation (2015) examined violations by both parties from 2002 to 2011. Outcome The LTTE was defeated in May 2009. The government calls the final campaign a humanitarian operation; UN bodies found credible allegations of serious violations by both sides. The panel’s findings concern shelling above all; a separate figure for air strikes was not found in the sources checked. The full UN report could not be fetched and is cited via Wikipedia’s summary and the UN page.
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| The LTTE air raidsthe Air Tigers against the SLAFSri Lanka Air Force (defending) | 2007–2009 | LTTE air wing | F-7G, K-8 | 11 | ||
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Defended its own bases against the LTTE’s air wing with anti-aircraft guns, radars, K-8 and F-7 interceptors. At 00:45 on 26 March 2007 two Czech-built Zlin Z 143s dropped four 25 kg bombs on Katunayake, killing three airmen and damaging the engineering wing and five helicopters; a K-8 scrambled but lost them over Mannar. On 22 October 2007 LTTE commandos, supported by two light aircraft, stormed Anuradhapura; the Sunday Times listed two UAVs, a Mi-17, four PT-6s, a Beech 200, a K-8 and a Mi-24 destroyed. On 9 September 2008 LTTE aircraft joined an attack on Vavuniya: the air force said an F-7 shot one down, the LTTE said it returned safely, and the Sunday Times wrote that neither claim could be verified. On 20 February 2009 two Zlins, each with 215 kg of C-4, flew on a suicide mission against air force headquarters and Katunayake; one was shot down and hit the Inland Revenue building in Colombo, the other fell to anti-aircraft fire near Katunayake. Two people died and 58 were injured. Outcome The LTTE air wing ended with the two aircraft shot down over Colombo on 20 February 2009. Wikipedia dates the claimed F-7 kill to October 2008, the Sunday Times to 9 September 2008. Attackers at Anuradhapura: 21 (LTTE) or 27 (police investigators, per the Sunday Times). The losses_aircraft figure counts the Sunday Times list plus the Bell 212.
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| UN peacekeeping aviationMINUSCA and UNMISSSri Lanka Air Force | 2014– | Mi-17, C-130K | 0 | |||
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Mi-17 helicopters for troop movement, reconnaissance, search and rescue, casualty and medical evacuation and cargo. The first Sri Lankan aviation contingent — three Mi-17s and 122 personnel as No. 62 Helicopter Flight — left for the Central African Republic on 9 September 2014 and has flown from Bria since. The air force also sent Mi-17s to the UN mission in South Sudan, supplied by C-130 in 2016. By the air force’s count its UN work has earned the country over US$140 million in foreign exchange. Outcome Continuing with MINUSCA; the helicopter rotation of September 2026 used a UN-chartered An-124. The end date of the South Sudan deployment was not confirmed.
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Nothing matches that search.
Every figure, checked
- Sri Lanka Air Force: HistoryRCyAF born 2 March 1951; first Chipmunks ordered 1950; 1971 insurgency; Y-12 and Y-8 additions in 1987; 21,895 hours flown in 1997 despite nine manned aircraft lost.
- Sri Lanka Air Force: Kfir ‘Lion Cub’ returns to the skies with successful test flight after long hiatus (11 June 2026)Four Kfir C2/C7 and one TC2 being upgraded to Kfir C12 standard with IAI; No. 10 Fighter Squadron, Katunayake; Kfir in service since 1996.
- Sri Lanka Air Force: SLAF deploys an aviation unit under UN mission in Central African Republic (September 2014)Three Mi-17s and 122 personnel as No. 62 Helicopter Flight; deployment from 15 September 2014.
- Sri Lanka Air Force: Sri Aviation Unit commemorates 12 years of service in MINUSCA (11 September 2026)First contingent 9 September 2014; over 15,700 flying hours; based at Bria.
- Sri Lanka Air Force: SLAF successfully concludes helicopter rotation for MINUSCA (23 September 2026)Mi-17 exchanged by UN-provided An-124 on 17 September 2026.
- Sri Lanka Air Force: SLAF C-130 proves success in resupply missions (March 2016)C-130 resupply flight to UNMISS (South Sudan) and MINUSCA, 20–24 March 2016.
- Sunday Times (Sri Lanka): Situation Report on the Katunayake attack (29 July 2001)14 Black Tigers; three SriLankan Airlines Airbuses destroyed and three damaged.
- Sunday Times (Sri Lanka): Situation Report on the first LTTE air raid (1 April 2007)Two Zlin Z-143s bombed Katunayake at 00:45 on 26 March 2007; three airmen killed, 16 wounded.
- Sunday Times (Sri Lanka): Situation Report on the Anuradhapura attack (28 October 2007)List of aircraft destroyed at Anuradhapura; attacker numbers disputed (21 or 27); losses over US$30 million.
- Sunday Times (Sri Lanka): Situation Report on the air strike on S. P. Thamilselvan (4 November 2007)Kfir and MiG-27 strike at Kilinochchi on 2 November 2007; LTTE statement confirming the death.
- Sunday Times (Sri Lanka): Situation Report on the Vavuniya attack (14 September 2008)SLAF claim of an F-7 kill, LTTE claim that its aircraft returned safely; “independent verification of both claims is not possible”.
- Sunday Times (Sri Lanka): Tigers go kamikaze but attacks fail (22 February 2009)Two Zlin-Z143s with 215 kg of C-4 each; one crashed into the Inland Revenue building, one shot down near Katunayake; 2 dead, 58 injured.
- TamilNet: Tension after dawn raid (24 July 2001)Same-day tally: 13 aircraft destroyed, 12 attackers and four airmen killed.
- Human Rights Watch/Asia: Sri Lanka (July 1995, Vol. 7, No. 11)Navaly church bombing of 9 July 1995; abuses by both government forces and the LTTE.
- United Nations: Secretary-General’s Panel of Experts on Accountability in Sri LankaPanel appointed by the Secretary-General; report delivered in April 2011.
- OHCHR: Investigation on Sri Lanka (OISL)Investigation under HRC resolution 25/1 (2014) of violations by both parties; report A/HRC/30/CRP.2, September 2015.
Figures verified 2026-09-30. Back to the Sri Lanka Air Force.