India gifts Rs.200mn worth radar spares equipment to SLAF

The Indian Air Force gifted 341 Indra Radar Spares worth Rs. 200 million to Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) to augment maintenance support for four INDRA Mk-II Air Surveillance Radars gifted to Sri Lanka Air Force by the Indian Government in 2011.

Indian High Commission said an Indian Air Force (IAF) An-32 aircraft landed at Bandaranaike International Airport on 10 January 2021 as part of India’s commitment to maintain high serviceability of weapons equipment provided by Government of India to Sri Lankan Armed Forces.

The handing over ceremony of Air Defence equipment and INDRA Mk-II Radar spares equipment was conducted yesterday at SLAF Base Katunayake with the participation of  Indian High Commissioner Gopal Baglay and Commander of the Air Force, Air Marshal Sudarshana Pathirana.

These spares would ensure continued optimal availability of the radars and provide the much needed redundancy to the SLAF.

Indian Defence Forces have remained committed towards ensuring high operational availability and capacity building Sri Lanka Defence forces, towards realisation of India’s Vision of Security and Growth for All in the Region (SAGAR).

The INDRA Mk II radar is a mobile 2D radar capable of detecting low flying aircraft. It was developed by the Electronics and Radar Development Establishment (LRDE) wing of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

The radar has been manufactured by M/s Bharat Electronics and is the mainstay of the SLAF Surveillance capability. With friendly assistance from India, SLAF has been able to maintain 100% operational availability of the system. It is testimony to the technological prowess of India’s defence research and development sector and reliability of the products of Indian defence industry.

The event also marked the successful completion of annual life extension checks of 54 shoulder launched surface to air IGLA Missiles held with Sri Lanka Air Force.

The IGLA System was gifted to the Sri Lanka Government by the Govt of India in 2007.

Thereafter, Indian Air Force Training Team had assisted Sri Lanka Air Force in setting up the system and have also conducted multiple courses on the missile system.

Further, to ensure the operational availability of the IGLA missiles, they are annually taken by IAF for Life Extension check as a goodwill gesture.

The entire expenditure of airlifting the missiles, their Life Extension and their repositioning is borne by the Govt of India, in the spirit of strong and friendly relations between the two countries.

The assurance of India’s fullest cooperation in the field of security was recently reiterated to Sri Lanka’s leadership by the National Security Adviser of India, Mr Ajit Doval during the recently concluded trilateral Maritime Security Cooperation talks among India, Sri Lanka and Maldives hoisted by Sri Lanka in November 2020.

The expeditious positioning of the spares and the Igla Missiles is indicative of the growing cooperation, camaraderie and friendship between the two nations, with Sri Lanka being accorded the status of ‘Priority One’ partner by India.