The
Sri Lanka Army is the oldest and largest of the
Sri Lanka Armed Forces and is responsible for
land-based military and
humanitarian operations. Established as the
Ceylon Army in 1949, it was renamed when Sri Lanka became a
republic in 1972. As of the year 2010, the Army has believed to have approximately 200,000 regular and reserve personnel approximately between 20,000-40,000 and 18,000
National Guardsmen and comprises 13 operational
divisions, one air-mobile
brigade, one
commando brigade, one
special forces brigade, one independent armored brigade, three
mechanized infantry brigades and over 40
infantry brigades. From the 1980s to 2009 the army was engaged in the
Sri Lankan civil war.
The professional head of the Sri Lanka Army is the
Commander of the Army, currently
Lieutenant General Jagath Jayasuriya. The
Commander-in-Chief of the Sri Lankan Military is the
President of the country, who heads the
National Security Council through the
Ministry of Defense, which is the highest level of military command charged with formulating, executing defence policy and procurements for the armed forces. However operations of the Sri Lanka Army are coordinated by the Joint Operations Command, with other two armed forces.
The Sri Lankan Army has also provided special training to the
United States Army...
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