The weapons of the Sri Lankan Civil War.

[Ace Oliveira]

Originally Posted by Nyles

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.

[Nyles]

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

[Ace Oliveira]

Did the Sri Lankan Army ever use shotguns?

[k9870]

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

[Ace Oliveira]

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?

[Gunmaster45]

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

[Ace Oliveira]

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

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

And read all the Main Articles.

[MT2008]

Originally Posted by Gunmaster45

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

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.

[MT2008]

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...

Originally Posted by Ace Oliveira

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?

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.

[Ace Oliveira]

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?