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Air forces explore neighbourhood security mechanisms
Sri Lanka’s strategic location has the potential to be exploited as the combined task force hub to secure the Indian Ocean and is also ideally positioned to become a centre for search and rescue for the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). The suggestion came at the Colombo Airforce Air Symposium 2018 by Air Vice Marshall Sudharshana Pathirana.
A section of the audience at the symposium, held for the fourth time
He said that the Mattala airport has been identified in a study as the ideal location to host a ‘combined air task force hub’. His sentiments were echoed by many foreign and local speakers who presented research papers at the gathering recently. The symposium, held for the fourth time, saw 12 authors present their papers and discuss the theme ‘Air Strategy in Substantiating the Geo-Strategic Importance of Sri Lanka.’
Sri Lanka Air Force and regional air forces need to modernise their fleets and work to share intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance data to secure the maritime commons of the Indian Ocean said the Commander of the Air Force, Air Marshal Kapila Jayampathy. Further, the SLAF is plaining to build capacity to monitor and protect the Sri Lankan Exclusive Economic Zone under a the SLAF Vision 2025, he said.
The increasing activities of drug traffickers, marine piracy and human smuggling were also noted as non-traditional security concerns which need to be addressed through cooperation of all stakeholders. The need for countries in the IOR to collaborate on maritime domain awareness was also stressed by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe at the Indian Ocean Conference held the week before. Sri Lanka is pushing to establish an inclusive, rules-based order to secure the Indian Ocean and protect resources and vital trade routes.
The disappearance of the Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 with all passengers, was cited as a case for the need for regional collaboration by Air Commodore Nagesh Kapoor of the Indian Air Force. Due to the vastness of the airspace of the Indian Ocean, which has many “monitoring gaps” and the economic cost of acquiring asserts, collaboration is important, he added.
Commodore Kapoor also cited the presence of natural disaster hot spots and the possible future threats posed by non-state actors in requiring an information and intelligence sharing mechanism. He also proposed that Sri Lanka could host a regional navigation and weather monitoring center. The need for an ‘info-sphere’ between the middle and small powers in the Indo-Pacific regions was stressed by Dr. Michael King, associate professor, National Security Studies at the Air University of the United States.
Dr. King predicted that low-cost, low-orbit satellites can be a ‘game changer’ for regional maritime domain awareness in the future and pointed out that collaboration was the way of the future. ‘Air diplomacy’ can be incorporated as a tool to improve Sri Lanka’s foreign policy, aided by input from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Defence and academia, said Mr George Cooke, deputy director of the Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies, who spoke on Sri Lanka and the scope ‘air diplomacy’. Mr. Cooke proposed that Sri Lanka can explore the possibility of establishing a regional air force commander’s conclave for the Indian Ocean Rim Association to address security and maritime concerns.
He pointed out that the time is ripe for critical planing, innovation and action.