No 3 Maritime Squadron Declared Open by the Commander
9:35pm on Friday 11th January 2019
The No 3 Maritime Squadron was reestablished today, 11 Jan 2019, when it’s new facilities were declared open by the Commander of the Air Force, Air Marshal Kapila Jayampathy at the SLAF Academy China Bay.
The Chief of Staff, Air Vice Marshal Sumangala Dias, Members of the Air Force Board of Management, the Commandant of the Air Force Academy, officers and airmen were present for the occasion. Following this, Air Surveillance Brevets were awarded to two officers who had completed the training and fulfilled the required flying with more than 100 flying hours. The officers who received their Air Surveillance Brevets are;
Wing Commander KC Serasinghe
Flight Lieutenant MDJ Abeysiriwardhana
The No 3 Maritime Squadron was initially established in December 1971 at SLAF Academy China Bay by the then Air Force Commander AVM PH Mendis. The squadron logo featured the “Red-wattled Lapwing (Kirala),” to indicate the role of the squadron, of providing early warning.
Equipped with the De Havilland Dove, the squadron was tasked with Dawn to Dusk patrols of the Eastern Coast, from Point Pedro to Galle, as a deterrent to possible arms smuggling, a need felt during the 1971 insurgency.
The squadron shifted to SLAF Base Katunayake with the addition of Cessna 337 aircraft to its inventory and again relocated to SLAF Base China Bay in the year 1988 to conduct surveillance operations against the LTTE. With the depletion of its fleet, the squadron became non-operational in the year 1993.
As the need for maritime surveillance began to be felt ever strongly, the Commander of the Air Force, Air Marshal Kapila Jayampathy set in motion the process of re-establishment of the No 3 Maritime Squadron which saw its culmination today. The Beech King Air B200 and Harbin Y-12 Aircraft have been allocated to conducted Maritime Surveillance in order to safeguard the seas of Sri Lanka.
The Chief of Staff, Air Vice Marshal Sumangala Dias, Members of the Air Force Board of Management, the Commandant of the Air Force Academy, officers and airmen were present for the occasion. Following this, Air Surveillance Brevets were awarded to two officers who had completed the training and fulfilled the required flying with more than 100 flying hours. The officers who received their Air Surveillance Brevets are;
Wing Commander KC Serasinghe
Flight Lieutenant MDJ Abeysiriwardhana
The No 3 Maritime Squadron was initially established in December 1971 at SLAF Academy China Bay by the then Air Force Commander AVM PH Mendis. The squadron logo featured the “Red-wattled Lapwing (Kirala),” to indicate the role of the squadron, of providing early warning.
Equipped with the De Havilland Dove, the squadron was tasked with Dawn to Dusk patrols of the Eastern Coast, from Point Pedro to Galle, as a deterrent to possible arms smuggling, a need felt during the 1971 insurgency.
The squadron shifted to SLAF Base Katunayake with the addition of Cessna 337 aircraft to its inventory and again relocated to SLAF Base China Bay in the year 1988 to conduct surveillance operations against the LTTE. With the depletion of its fleet, the squadron became non-operational in the year 1993.
As the need for maritime surveillance began to be felt ever strongly, the Commander of the Air Force, Air Marshal Kapila Jayampathy set in motion the process of re-establishment of the No 3 Maritime Squadron which saw its culmination today. The Beech King Air B200 and Harbin Y-12 Aircraft have been allocated to conducted Maritime Surveillance in order to safeguard the seas of Sri Lanka.
