New Chief of Staff appointed to Sri Lanka Air Force.

Air Vice Marshal R.S. Wickremeratne has been appointed the new Chief of Staff of the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF).

The appointment was approved by President Ranil Wickremesinghe in his capacity as the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces.

Air Force Commander, Air Marshal Udeni Rajapaksa officially handed over the letter of appointment to the new SLAF Chief of Staff on Sunday (July 09).

Wickremeratne embarked on his military career by joining the General Duties Pilot Branch of the SLAF in 1989. He was chosen to be specialized as a fighter pilot in his illustrious career, flying many different fighter platforms.

He is a Qualified Flying Instructor, Qualified flight Safety Officer and was given extensive training in Pakistan, Israel, China, India, and Ecuador.

Before assuming duties as the SLAF Chief of Staff, he served as the Director General Air Operations, diplomat at the Sri Lankan Embassy in Washington DC in the post of Minister (Defence) where he was responsible for maintaining friendly bi-lateral relations of the militaries of Sri Lanka and the USA.

In 2007, Wickremeratne was appointed as the Commanding Officer of No 05 Fighter Squadron at Sri Lanka Air Force Base Katunayake. His contributions in service to the country were amply recognized and appreciated by the award of gallantry medals on six occasions and he was also awarded Uttama Sewa Padakkama for his unblemished service carrier to date.

From August 2012 to June 2014, Wickremeratne commanded both No 05 and No 10 Fighter Squadrons which are in possession of multirole fighter jets.

In moving from operational to higher level management in the Sri Lanka Air Force, AVM Sampath Wickremeratne was appointed as the Base Commander Sri Lanka Air Force Base Hingurakgoda which is the home to two highly operational helicopter squadrons in 2014.

In January 2017 he was posted to Air Force Headquarters as the Senior Air Staff Officer (SASO) at the Directorate of Air Operations and handled Air Operations at Air Headquarters and Ministry of Defence (MOD) level.

In September 2018 he was appointed as the Base Commander Sri Lanka Air Force Base Ratmalana which is the home of 12 independent formations including the VVIP Helicopter Squadron. During his tenure as the Base Commander, he was responsible for coordinating HADR operations in the North-East and South- East of the country respectively.

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