By Shamindra Ferdinando
Sri Lanka last week acquired six Chinese built K8 advanced training aircraft, Airforce headquarters said adding that the acquisition was part of the ongoing effort to strengthen fighter pilot training facilities.

A group of Chinese technicians was expected to arrive in Colombo shortly to assemble the aircraft and test them ahead of their deployment, the headquarters said yesterday.

A senior Airforce spokesman said that ten fully aerobatic and piston engined PT 6 trainer aircraft were acquired early this year. He said that acquisition of the Chinese built PT6 and K8 aircraft has considerably increased SLAF’s pilot training facilities.

The spokesman said that the Italian built Siai Marchetti SF 260 Warriors and the Chinese built FT 5 aircraft used for training purposes will have to be replaced. The SF 260 Warriors first acquired in 1990 will be removed from service this year and the FT5s will have to go next year, he said.

He said that pilots will be trained on the PT6 and K8 aircraft before they command powerful Kfirs and MIG 27s.

The highly significant fleet enhancements required bolstering training facilities, the spokesman added saying that they operate a dozen Kfirs and six MIG 27s that have given a tremendous boost to security forces fire power.

Apart from the Kfirs and the MIG 27s, the Airforce has increased the number of Mi-35 helicopters equipped to undertake night operations to 18.

Acquisition of helicopters and aircraft played a crucial role in battlefield success in the Jaffna peninsula since September last year following a series of reversals that threatened to allow the LTTE to take the upper hand in the northern theatre.

Airforce headquarters said that Kfirs engaged frontline LTTE targets at Nagarkovil, south of Point Pedro in the Vadamarachchy yesterday. At least seven terrorists were killed in the latest strike, the second in the recent past on LTTE positions in the Nagarkovil area. The Airforce bombed Nagarkovil on Wednesday and a subsequent ground operation resulted in more casualties among the enemy, the headquarters said.