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Tri-Services exercise ‘Cormorant Strike’ for 9th successive year
View(s):The annual Tri-Services exercise ‘Cormorant Strike’, organised by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), will be held for the 9th successive year from September 6-26, with nearly 100 foreign military participants and observers joining over 3,000 Sri Lankan Armed Forces personnel.
The exercise is the largest one of its kind in the country. This year, it will address capacity building of the nation’s Special Operations Forces (SOF) and formulating a conceptual framework for SOF deployment. It will focus on a counter-insurgency scenario, the deployment of asymmetric warfare tactics and the influence of non-State actors. The SLA will field several experimental tracking and navigational equipment during the exercise.
“The event has been modeled as an offensive exercise operation,” said Exercise Director Maj Gen Niyshshanka Ranawana, at a press conference this week. Exercises such as ‘Cormorant Strike’ help the Tri-Services to maintain high operational readiness. Taking part are 2500 SLA personnel, 400 from the SL Navy (SLN) and 200 from the SL Air Force (SLAF).
“The battle-hardened 533 Airmobile Brigade will role-play as the opposing force,” said Maj Gen Ranawana. The SLN will deploy personnel from the Special Boat Squadron and Marine Battalion, while the SLAF will assign personnel from the Regiment Special Forces. Helicopters, fighter jets and SLN vessels will be part of the exercise.
The SLA contingent will largely be made up of the Commandos, Special Forces and Mechanized Infantry. The partaking troops have begun a 35-day specialized training in the run-up to the exercise. This year will see the most technologically advanced Operations’ Room being used. Modern battlefield management systems, communications, navigation and data relay features will be incorporated.