Navy Commander observes Cormorant Strike Field Training exercise
 

The joint tri-services Field Training Exercise (FTX), 'Cormorant Strike IX - 2018', organized by the Sri Lanka Army for the 9th consecutive year, was taken place with the participation of foreign service personnel and covering the Eastern, Central, Western and North Central Provinces. The State Minister of Defence, Hon. Ruwan Wijewardene graced as the chief guest yesterday (26th Sep 2018) at Trincomalee, to witness the troops in action staging a simulated multi-pronged joint amphibious attack on enemy hideouts.

Chief of Defence Staff Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne, the Commander of the Army Lieutenant General Mahesh Senanayake, the Commander of the Navy Vice Admiral Sirimevan Ranasinghe,the Chief of Staff of the Air Force Air Vice Marshal Sumangala Dias and a large number of  senior officers of Tri forces were also present to observe the exercise.

400 Sri Lanka Navy personnel are taking part in the annual joint exercise along with 2,500 Army and 200 Air Force personnel as well as several foreign counterparts from Australia, Bangladesh, France, Japan, India, Singapore, Nepal, Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia, China, Russia, USA, Brazil, Sudan, UK, Turkey, Nigeria and Zimbabwe.

The multi-national Field Training Exercise commenced at the mock Operational Headquarters at the SLA’s Infantry Training Centre (ITC) in Minneriya on 07 September. In this joint exercise, Commodore Nandana Jayarathne performed as the Joint Force Naval Component Commander. Captain (G) Damien Fernando performed as Commander Amphibious Task Force (CATF) and Commander (SBS) Thusitha Daminda performed as Naval special force Commander.

The joint field exercise was aimed at enhancing the mutual cooperation and operational readiness of the counterparts and it was augmented with the participation of an elite contingent of naval personnel along with Naval ships SLNS Jagatha, SLNS Weeraya, 05 Fast Attack Craft, 02 Inshore Patrol Craft and 10 Cedric boats.