TNS Corner
Tamil Tigers Assault cripples Sri Lanka's Surveillance capacity

Oct 25, 2007, 20:12

COLOMBO - Tamil Tiger rebels have dealt a serious blow to Sri Lanka's intelligence gathering with their spectacular raid on a Sri Lankan air force base which destroyed virtually its entire fleet of spy planes, military observers said in the Capital Colombo.

The most valuable crafts lost included the Beechcraft 200 HISAR surveillance craft, two brand-new UAVs and one highly sophisticated UAV with thermal glare detection capability. The Tamil Tigers has thus completely annihilated the aerial reconnaissance capability of the Armed Forces.

Sri Lanka's air force, after initially denying that any damage was caused to their multi-million-dollar spy fleet, admitted that it lost eight aircraft, including a twin-turbo prop Beechcraft surveillance plane.

This was the only active aircraft of this type in SLAF inventory and had sophisticated spy equipment such as Hughes synthetic aperture radar and thermal imaging unit installed to it.

The spy aircraft had been their secret behind the military's success in attacking a fleet of Tamil Tiger boats and gun-running ships, military sources said.

But analysts said this week's Tiger attack served almost as an equaliser in the shifting battlefield fortunes, as Sri Lanka's navy depends on the air force for maritime aerial reconnaissance and to provide cover for naval convoys.

Iqbal Athas, Sri Lanka correspondent of Jane's Defense Weekly told Hindustan Times earlier, that that the SLAF's Chinese-made K-8 jet trainer and a propeller driven naval reconnaissance plane were also destroyed, crippling the Sri Lankan Navy's deep sea operations.

A former head of India's external intelligence agency, B. Raman, also called the damage sustained by Sri Lanka's air force "considerable" and said it "reduces its capability for intelligence collection for air and naval operations."

"Monsoon rains and shortages of manpower were already a factor and this latest attack has only compounded the problems," said a senior military officer who declined to be named.