Air defence saves Colombo

**LTTE suicide mission total failure

By Shanika SRIYANANDA

The two suicide air attacks in Colombo targeting the Sri Lanka Air Force headquarters and the Katunayake air base were total failures due to the well established Air Defence System of the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF), the SLAF Chief, Air Marshal Roshan Goonatilake said.

Ending their one and half hour long journey starting from the jungles of Puthukudiyirippu to bomb the two vital places in Colombo, the two LTTE pilots, Col. Roopan and Lt. Col. Siriththiran died in Colombo and Katunayake, according to the pro-LTTE Tamilnet.

It is reported that the LTTE’s air wing called Van Puli has a few two-seater Czech-made Zlin-143 aircraft which were smuggled into the country in pieces, and reassembled and modified later, during the time of the Ceasefire.

“The one which crashed into the Inland Revenue Building would have mistaken it for SLAF Headquarters. However, the aircraft was shot and disabled by the anti aircraft fire, before it could reach the target - the SLAF headquarters. Otherwise, there was no reason for the aircraft, to fly in towards that building”, he said adding that the other attack at Katunayake targeted the jet squadrons at Katunayake.

“The Air Defence System (ADS) became the object of criticism in some quarters earlier but the LTTE’s failed attack on Friday night proved that the country has a fine ADS now in place”, he said.

According to SLAF, the LTTE aircraft in Colombo was gunned down at 9.40 p.m. and the second at 9.55 p.m. at Katunayake.

Air Marshal Goonatilake said that each aircraft was packed with 230 kilograms of C-4 explosives. They tried to inflict a massive destruction, he said.

Commending his airmen for preventing a massive disaster, the SLAF Chief said the SLAF was entrusted with a very difficult task as it was extremely difficult to shoot low flying aircraft, especially flying at night.” These are one way missions - suicide missions.

Therefore, getting systems in place for these types of missions is not easy. I must say that the SLAF officers at the ADS have done a wonderful job”, he said commending the support of the ground troops who first informed about the airborne.

He also said that the SLAF was ‘watchful’ until the LTTE’s air capabilities were fully destroyed.

Officer In-Charge of the ADS Group, Captain Ravi Jayasinghe told the Sunday Observer since the first information about the LTTE aircraft received from the troops at Puthukudiyirippu FDLs at 8.34 p.m. on last Friday, the SLAF radar stations were fully active and activated the ADS while sending two SLAF attacking aircraft.

According to him, the SLAF attacking aircraft were able to make the two LTTE pilots fly their aircraft very low from the ground level.

However, the two LTTE pilots, who were in a 20 metre gap, flew upto Colombo unharmed until the SLAF and Army gunners opened fire at the first LTTE aircraft that was visible in Colombo skies. “When firing, the first LTTE pilot got scared and took the turn towards Katunayake. He tried to destroy the fighter jets, including MiGs and Kfirs, which play a vital role in destroying the LTTE locations in the battlefront. But he got locked in the automated guns and the search lights activated with the ADS caught him very clearly”, he said. According to Group Captain Jayasinghe, the LTTE pilot could not escape the automated guns and manual gun shots. Later he was found dead.

He said that the second LTTE aircraft came under heavy firing and he lost control as the aircraft was heavily damaged due to firing. Later, the explosive laden aircraft was blown into pieces after it hit the Inland Revenue Building. “ We found body parts and the aircraft pieces at the location and as he lost control he had exploded the aircraft in the air”, he said.

The ADS Chief said that the SLAF was proud that they have recorded success in two years of establishing the ADS in Sri Lanka but India with more technological advances took more than two decades to achieve success in ADSs. “We have added indigenous methods to the conventional system of the ADS to achieve this success. One such device is the search light system”, he said adding that had not the ADS been operative the LTTE would have bombed the country at will.