SLN - a 'Blue Water Navy' soon

by Shanika Sriyananda

The Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) will upgrade its capabilities to a 'Blue Water Navy', which will operate in the high seas soon.

In an interview with the 'Sunday Observer' the Navy Commander Vice Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda said that while being a 'Brown water Navy', with the attack on the LTTE's three logistic vessels over one thousand kilometres away from Sri Lanka, the SLN has proved its blue water capability.

According to the Navy Commander, the SLN, which destroyed the LTTE's floating warehouses last week used more than the Blue Water capabilities to attack the sea tiger terrorists.

"We are in the process of improving the blue water capabilities further. Sri Lanka has an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of 200 nautical miles and this is about seven times the land area. In the future we are likely to acquire additional sea area under our jurisdiction and the area will increase 21 times", he said.

The majority of craft belonging to the SLN are small Doras which cannot sustain a longer period in the sea. "These Doras are more powerful than the craft of the LTTE", he said.

According to the Navy Commander it was important that the SLN enhanced the Blue Water capabilities in future. Meanwhile, the SLN is in the process of acquiring bigger vessels.