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.

Resultado 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.

Voando para

Royal Ceylon Air Force

Onde

Ceylon, mainly the south and centre

Ao lado de

India, United Kingdom, United States and Soviet Union

Contra

Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP)

Aeronave

Jet Provost, Bell 206 JetRanger, Bell 47G, MiG-17F

Missões

Three helicopters lifted about 36,500 lb of ammunition in April (Wikipedia); Indian Chetaks flew 1,122 sorties.

Perdas

1 aeronave · 4 mortosOne Jet Provost crashed on a bombing run on 12 April. The official toll of the insurrection lists four air force dead among 26 service personnel; overall deaths were about 1,200 officially and 4,000–5,000 by unofficial estimates.

Fontes

Wikipédia · Força Aérea do Sri Lanka · Wikipédia

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.

Resultado 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.

Voando para

Força Aérea do Sri Lanka

Onde

Northern and Eastern Provinces

Ao lado de

Sem força aérea aliada

Contra

LTTE and other Tamil militant groups

Aeronave

Bell 212, Bell 412, SF.260, Cessna 337, Y-8

Fontes

Wikipédia · Wikipédia · Força Aérea do Sri Lanka

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.

Resultado 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.

Voando para

Força Aérea do Sri Lanka

Onde

Northern and Eastern Provinces

Ao lado de

Sem força aérea aliada

Contra

LTTE

Aeronave

F-7, J-5, Pucará, Mi-17, Bell 212, Y-8, Y-12

Fontes

Wikipédia · Wikipédia

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.

Resultado 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.

Voando para

Força Aérea do Sri Lanka

Onde

Jaffna peninsula, the Vanni and the east; Katunayake

Ao lado de

Sem força aérea aliada

Contra

LTTE

Aeronave

Kfir, MiG-27, Mi-24, Pucará, Avro 748, Mi-17, Bell 212

Missões

In 1997 the air force flew 21,895 hours, over 20,000 of them operational.

Perdas

Air force: nine manned aircraft lost in 1997 alone. Two Avro transports shot down in April 1995; three Pucarás lost (two to missiles). At Katunayake on 24 July 2001, counts range from 11 to 13 aircraft destroyed (military and civil).

Fontes

Força Aérea do Sri Lanka · Human Rights Watch/Asia · Wikipédia · Wikipédia · Wikipédia · TamilNet · Sunday Times (Sri Lanka) · Wikipédia · Wikipédia

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.

Resultado 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.

Voando para

Força Aérea do Sri Lanka

Onde

Eastern Province, the Vanni and Mullaitivu

Ao lado de

Sem força aérea aliada

Contra

LTTE

Aeronave

Kfir, MiG-27, F-7G, Mi-24, Mi-17, K-8

Perdas

Air force losses over the whole war were not published; the Sri Lankan armed forces lost over 23,790 personnel between 1981 and 2009 (Wikipedia).

Fontes

Sunday Times (Sri Lanka) · Wikipédia · Wikipédia · Nações Unidas · ACNUDH · Força Aérea do Sri Lanka · Wikipédia

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.

Resultado 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.

Voando para

Sri Lanka Air Force (defending)

Onde

Katunayake, Anuradhapura, Vavuniya, Colombo

Ao lado de

Sem força aérea aliada

Contra

LTTE air wing

Aeronave

F-7G, K-8

Missões

LTTE raids: about half a dozen between March 2007 and February 2009 (Wikipedia list).

Perdas

11 aircraftKatunayake, 26 March 2007: three airmen killed, 16 wounded. Anuradhapura, 22 October 2007: about ten aircraft destroyed (Sunday Times list), plus a Bell 212 that crashed killing four crew; government figure up to eight, LTTE claim 15; 13–14 SLAF dead (Wikipedia).

Fontes

Sunday Times (Sri Lanka) · Sunday Times (Sri Lanka) · Sunday Times (Sri Lanka) · Sunday Times (Sri Lanka) · Wikipédia · Wikipédia · Wikipédia

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.

Resultado 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.

Voando para

Força Aérea do Sri Lanka

Onde

Central African Republic; South Sudan

Ao lado de

Nações Unidas

Aeronave

Mi-17, C-130K

Missões

Over 15,700 flying hours with MINUSCA by September 2026.

Perdas

0 aeronavesNo losses reported in the sources checked.

Fontes

Força Aérea do Sri Lanka · Força Aérea do Sri Lanka · Força Aérea do Sri Lanka · Força Aérea do Sri Lanka · Wikipédia