The weapons of the Sri Lankan Civil War.
 

I was doing some research about the weapons used by the Sri Lanka Army and the LTTE in the Sri Lankan Civil War. I read and reread the wiki articles about the Sri Lankan Army and the Tamil Tigers but while they talk about the weapons, they don't talk about the weapons used by the Sri Lanka Army in the 1980s and the 1990s. Neither of the weapons the Indian Peace Keeping force used. There aren't a lot pictures and videos about the war either.

So could any one post some pictures and videos about the war and maybe then we could have a big nice discussion about the war and its weapons:).

The Sir Lankan army uses mainly Chinese weapons, mostly Type-56s, with some Western kit as well - M16s, G3s, apparently some FNCs. I'd imagine the LTTE uses about the same.

The Indian army in the 90s would have still been using mostly Soviet kit from the 70s, though still had plenty of Ishapore-made FALs (hell, their police still carry Lee-Enfields and Greener shotguns). I doubt if the INSAS ever made it to Sri Lanka.

The INSAS couln't have made to Sri Lanka because it wasn't in service back then.

I also find that G3s and FNCs and the L1A1s were widely used during the 1980s and the early 1990s. G3s and FNCs are still widely used today. The M16A2s and M4s are just used by the Special Forces though.

Good point, I was a little confused on the dates they were there.

Did the Sri Lankan Army ever use shotguns?

They deploy FN P90s to police and guard units, i think an FNC or FAL is reasonable to see too.

They don't use FALs anymore. They replaced those in the Mid 1990s with G3s, FNCs and Type 56s. The FNCs are still common though. The G3s themselves are still being used but is really small quantites. It seems the Type 56 and the FNC are most common weapons in the hands of the SLA.

I still trying to find out about the weapons the SLA used in the 1980s. I also trying to find out about the uniforms they used in the 1980s and today. Can anyone help?

I feel out of the loop. I don't know any of this shit. :o

It's kinda like the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. Here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Lankan_Civil_War

And read all the Main Articles.

I know a little about this topic, because one of my assignments while I was an intern was to write updates on the conflict that the analysts could use. Of course, I quickly how full of shit the Sri Lankan Ministry of Defence could often be...

Actually, the G3 is one of the weapons that they started to replace in the mid-80s, along with the FAL. Being that it was a 7.62 NATO battle rifle and that those were going out of style.

The FNC was officially adopted, but I don't think the Defence Ministry bought too many of them. I think they originally wanted it to become their new service rifle, but the problem was that the Sri Lankan Army pretty much had to double in personnel size during the 1980s and early-90s, in response to the escalation of the conflict with the Tigers. They only had limited money to fund the expansion, so that meant that they had to go with cheaper small arms, and that's why they bought so many Type 56 AKs from the Chinese instead of the more expensive FNCs from the Belgians. On the other hand, the FNCs were most likely to be used by the front-line units fighting the LTTE.

In the past 5 years, it seems that the Chinese have also been selling the SLA many of their surplus Type 81 rifles, and even some Type 95s. I've seen plenty of both types in the hands of SLA personnel in photos from 2005 onwards.

As for the LTTE, they use a lot of material that they've captured from the SLA, which means lots of the Type 56s, 81s, and FNCs. They've also bought a lot of weaponry on the black market from arms dealers in the former Soviet Union (Viktor Bout used to be one of their suppliers, allegedly). And of course, the Sri Lankan government used to accuse the Indian government of supplying them with weaponry (mostly, stuff that the Indians bought from the Russians), which is partially true.

Interestly, I remember on HKPRO, somebody posted a photo of Prabhakaran (the LTTE's chief commander) carrying an H&K USP Tactical with a LAM unit in a shoulder holster. Not sure where he got that from. Oh, yes, and may he rest in piss. :D

I like you Matt. That's why i'm going to kill you last.

Did were the G3A3s still in widely use in the Vadamarachchi Operation?

Also, the Type 95 is only used by the Special Forces. And i think so does the Type 81. The FNC was used in the Vadamarachchi Operation Also, Correct?

Basically, the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) want to create their own little country in the Northern part of Sri Lanka. The Tamil people got imported to the island by the Brits, back when Sri Lanka was still a British colony, and the native Sinhalese hated them. Thus, after independence, Sri Lanka was an island where you had two tribes who hated each other. Some of the Tamils took this as far as wanting their own country on the island (which would be called Tamil Eelam), so various militias were formed to fight for it.

The LTTE got to be the biggest and most dangerous of the Tamil rebel groups, and eventually controlled half of Sri Lanka. They're best known for having used suicide bombers (before the jihadists took up the tactic), and even a ragtag air force and navy. Eventually, the Sri Lankan Army pretty much kicked their asses this past May when they killed off most of the LTTE leadership (including Prabhakaran, the chief of staff), so now it looks as though the LTTE is done, for the foreseeable future.

Hope that explains it.

I don't think the G3A3s are used very much anymore. I've seen hundreds of photos from the conflict, and the G3's use by the SLA pretty much seems to stop by the 1990s. I'm sure they are still used by reserves and other rear-echelon forces, but the vast, vast majority of SLA personnel I've seen on the front lines (both during the Vadamarachchi offensive and before) have Type 56s now.

They especially seem to have bought many of the Type 56-2 side-folder, which isn't too common anywhere else in the world. Not sure why they prefer that variant.

Not Only that, but the Civil War started back In 1983 and the both the Sri Lanka Army (Composed almost entirely of Sinhalese) and the Tamil Tigers (Composed of Tamils) commited some small scale Genocide by commiting Massacres all over the country. The SLA raping and killing Tamil Civilians and the Tamil Tigers doing the same against Sinhalese only with some Car Bombs and suicide bombers in Civilian Locations. There was some trophy taking commited by both sides too Ala World War 2 and Vietnam too.

Also, What was the standard uniform of the SLA in the 1980s and 1990s?

In conflicts like the Sri Lankan Civil War, atrocities on both sides tend to be the norm. That's how it often is in Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, etc. - no obvious good or bad guys, no matter what ideology or cause they claim to be fighting for (as far as I know, both the Sri Lankan govt. and LTTE claim to be "socialists" even though what they are in practice is ethnic nationalist/tribalist).

That being said, I'm just a tad bit more sympathetic to the SLA in this conflict, mostly because Prabhakaran has always struck me as one of those "Dear Leader" types. By most accounts, his rule in Tamil Eelam (while it lasted) was a lot like that of the Kims in North Korea - a cult of personality, press-ganging into military service, and starvation of Tamils who disagreed with the LTTE's agenda, among other things. I hear the LTTE even had something called a "life tax" - literally, they taxed Tamils for the right to be alive! :D

Most Civil Wars are like that. There are exceptions though.

I've seen them wearing surplus British, American, German, and Chinese uniforms. It seems to vary based on units. I'm not sure they've adopted a standard, and I doubt they've had the money to afford standardization. Which is typical of many Third World militaries that have had to expand quickly and cheaply.

Recently, I've noticed a lot of their special forces wearing the same style dark blue urban camo that the Pakistani special forces wear...I'm not sure who makes it (probably some American manufacturer).

Do you got pictures of varius SLA units in the 1980s and 1990s? They would be very helpful.

On my hard drive? No. Check Military Photos.com and do a search, that's where I find a lot of this stuff.

The Forums or the regular Site?

The forums and the regular site are one and the same. The regular site is just a front page showing what topics have been updated in the forum.

Here's a good one to start with:

http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums...d.php?t=146160

Hey thanks. Unfortunately, most of those pictures are of Special Forces. Most
of them are also from this decade.

Some questions.

1. I first though that the SLA standard Issue Helmet today was a PASGT helmet with or without helmet nets, but alot of those pictures have Soldiers with some weird Soviet Helmet. What helmet do the SLA wear today?

2. Does the SLA ever use Shotguns? If so, when?

3. When did the SLA get their hands on all those RPDs, PKMs and CAR-15s?

I'm really sorry to bug you so much. I'm really sorry. Is just that i find The Sri Lankan civil War really intersting.:(

You're not bugging me; this is just a discussion. This is what a message board is for. :D

The topic I gave you was just one; I would recommend trying the search feature for the Military Pictures forum and see what else you come up with. I know I've seen pics dating back to the earlier days of the conflict (including the brief period of India's involvement). But to be fair, you will have a lot of difficulty finding good pictures, which is mostly due to the Defence Ministry's near-blackout on media access to the war zone that has been in effect for decades (to cover up their involvement in activities which might or might not be reported as atrocities, undoubtedly).

As for the others:

(1.) Judging by the pictures, they use everything from U.S.-issue surplus PASGT helmets to surplus WWII-issue Russian helmets. Again, you have to remember that this is a Third World military that had a lot of personnel to field (due to the danger posed by the LTTE) and very little money to spend (due to a low GNP). In that kind of situation, the Defence Ministry buys mostly low-cost surplus wherever they can find/afford it, in everything from small arms to helmets to APCs. There is really not going to be very much - if any - level of standardization. This is as true for Sri Lanka as Equatorial Guinea or Lebanon or any other low-income country.

(2.) I don't know if they use any shotguns; I haven't seen any personally. The Wikipedia article on the SLA doesn't list any in their infantry weapons section. Personally, I can't see too much use for shotguns, given the sort of operations in which SLA units (even special forces) typically take part.

(3.) The SLA has purchased material from both Russia and the People's Republic of China, as well as some Eastern European countries, so the RPDs and PKMs could have come from any of those sources. As for the CAR-15s, the U.S. has sold small arms to the SLA on several occasions. They've also bought lots of stuff from the Israeli government (their AF flies the Kfir fighter-bomber), and it's possible that the Izzies also sold them some M16-type weapons.

Kinda sucks that were are the only ones that are discussing it, though. Thanks for the help.:)

Also, how much did the regular SLA infantry use FN Minimis and FN MAGs during the 1980s? Were they common?

I imagine the SLA received some surplus L7A2 GPMGs from the British government just as they received many surplus L1A1 SLRs, but I imagine that, as with other small arms, they've long since been usurped by the influx of Eastern Bloc/Chicom-made RPDs and PKMs. Most of the pictures I see show the SLA personnel carrying communist-made weapons.

As for the Minimis, I can't imagine those are used much outside of specialist units and commandos today, and I'd be surprised if the SLA had even one in the 1980s. In the '80s, you wouldn't have even found very many NATO armies using the Minimi just yet (because the 5.56x45mm SAW concept was just starting to catch on). And whatever NATO does, you generally shouldn't expect the Third World to follow suit for a long time (if ever...otherwise, there still wouldn't be so many Third World armies using .308 battle rifles as infantry weapons today).

So Minimis are out of the question then? I imagine the SLA would be using a weird mixture of FN MAGs and RPDs during the Vadamarachchi Operation. Probably some PKMs too.

I've seen some pics of them with MAGs (a picture was in the topic I posted), but the fact is, an RPD or PKM is much cheaper, so that's why they probably have more of those. The SLA almost surely doesn't have the budget to buy much NATO-spec equipment.

In other Sri Lanka/LTTE-related news:

http://www.reuters.com/article/world...Name=worldNews

Yay.

i still feel that another civil war is going to spring up in the future. The Tamils are probably still being opressed and they won't take that for long.

I dunno, things have changed a bit since the 1970s and 80s, but the war has certainly exacerbated ethnic tensions quite a bit. I do think that the Sri Lankan government will at least make some overtures to the Tamil population. Whether or not it's enough is another matter.

It's hard for me to imagine there will be another Civil War anytime soon. The LTTE themselves pretty much ensured that by wiping out all of the rival Tamil militias on the island. Of course, their fund-raising and arms smuggling networks still exist, but have been damaged heavily.

Another Question.

What was the uniform, camouflage and helmet those guys here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Lanka_Light_Infantry used in the Vadamarachchi Operation? I know that there was no standard in the SLA but did units have their own standard?

Beats me. I really don't know their gear/equipment all that well. I can only go by what I see in pictures and what's on Wikipedia. I'm sure somebody who's been in the SLA could tell you better than I could.

Hi guys, this is my first post. Don´t forget that Sri Lanka also used COIN aircrafts against the tigers. One of them was the IA-58 Pucara, sold by Argentina in 1993 (4 of them). It was used until 1998, when they were retired of service, two of them were lost in combat.

http://www.choiquehobbies.com.ar/rev...ucara%20SL.jpg