STEPPING STONE OF REGIMENT SPECIAL FORCES FOR FUTURE SEARCH AND RESCUE (SAR) MISSIONS
3:29pm on Saturday 3rd June 2023
Regiment Special Forces is the prime element of the SLAF to conduct future Search and Rescue (SAR) operations in any type of terrain with the hand-to-hand coordination of SLAF Helicopter fleets. Regiment Special Forces Training School at SLAF Station Morawewa conducted many Search and Rescue related training exercises to train RSF personnel to conduct future Search and Rescue missions over land and sea areas to evacuate distressed pilots, aircrew and civilians during air crashes or any type of natural or manmade catastrophe.
Recently, they conducted training modules comprised of tower training exercises for Rappelling, Rope Rescue, Fast Rope and Winch Operations to make it feasible to conduct aircraft training exercises in the same context. Further, the same training modules include swimming and water survival phases, Map craft with GPS handling, terrain Navigation marches and GPS marches to find distressed personnel in any terrain and in any situation. The aircraft training exercise phase included Rapid Deployment, Rappelling and Rope Rescue exercises conducted at SLAF Base Hingurakgoda and Winch Operation conducted at the Trincomalee Sea Area. Entire training modules were conducted by Regiment Special Forces Training School from 08 May 2023 to 02 June 2023 at SLAF Station Morawewa.
This training session mainly focused on Search and Rescue mission planning, casualty evacuation techniques and methods while sharing best practises in various aspects of Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Response (HADR) Operations. The training session led to enhance confidence and synergy among RSF troops to engage with future requirements in the nation in SAR missions with good coordination among the SLAF helicopter pilots. The Final Training Exercise was conducted with the aim of a real-time situational exercise to evacuate distressed aircrew personnel with the combination of hostage rescue missions.
Entire training exercises were conducted under the supervision of the Commanding Officer of No. 7 Helicopter Squadron, Wing Commander Sameera Vidanapathirana, Commanding Officer of Sri Lanka Air Force Station Morawewa Group Captain Hemantha Balasooriya and the Commanding Officer of the Regiment Special Forces Wing, Wing Commander Sumith Bandara, who led the training programme under the guidance and direct supervision of Director General Air Operations, Air Vice Marshal Sampath Wickramaratne, Director General Ground Operations, Air Vice Marshal Waruna Gunawardana and Director General Training Air Vice Marshal Bandu Edirisinghe.
Recently, they conducted training modules comprised of tower training exercises for Rappelling, Rope Rescue, Fast Rope and Winch Operations to make it feasible to conduct aircraft training exercises in the same context. Further, the same training modules include swimming and water survival phases, Map craft with GPS handling, terrain Navigation marches and GPS marches to find distressed personnel in any terrain and in any situation. The aircraft training exercise phase included Rapid Deployment, Rappelling and Rope Rescue exercises conducted at SLAF Base Hingurakgoda and Winch Operation conducted at the Trincomalee Sea Area. Entire training modules were conducted by Regiment Special Forces Training School from 08 May 2023 to 02 June 2023 at SLAF Station Morawewa.
This training session mainly focused on Search and Rescue mission planning, casualty evacuation techniques and methods while sharing best practises in various aspects of Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Response (HADR) Operations. The training session led to enhance confidence and synergy among RSF troops to engage with future requirements in the nation in SAR missions with good coordination among the SLAF helicopter pilots. The Final Training Exercise was conducted with the aim of a real-time situational exercise to evacuate distressed aircrew personnel with the combination of hostage rescue missions.
Entire training exercises were conducted under the supervision of the Commanding Officer of No. 7 Helicopter Squadron, Wing Commander Sameera Vidanapathirana, Commanding Officer of Sri Lanka Air Force Station Morawewa Group Captain Hemantha Balasooriya and the Commanding Officer of the Regiment Special Forces Wing, Wing Commander Sumith Bandara, who led the training programme under the guidance and direct supervision of Director General Air Operations, Air Vice Marshal Sampath Wickramaratne, Director General Ground Operations, Air Vice Marshal Waruna Gunawardana and Director General Training Air Vice Marshal Bandu Edirisinghe.
