Page 2 - Interview Rear Admiral PS Mahawithana, Director General Operations, Sri Lanka Navy
P. 2
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“The main role has shifted towards the high seas, where trans-boundary drug trafficking is
flourishing in the aftermath of 2009. We have new challenges to face,” Rear Adm Mahawithana
said, “We have to seriously look into drug trafficking, human smuggling, poaching/IUU [illegal,
unreported, and unregulated] fishing, marine pollution, responding to maritime disasters, search-
and-rescue, among many others.”
Sri Lanka has a coastline of 1,340 km to monitor, with an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) seven
times its land area. In August 2019 the SLN published its 2025 Maritime Strategy. This was
followed by its first ever Maritime Doctrine of Sri Lanka (MDSL) in July 2020 that seeks to align
the service's capability with the national interest and meet these challenges.
Rear Adm Mahawithana explained that these policies are widening the role of the SLN to include
surveillance and monitoring of Sri Lanka's maritime zones; securing sea lines of communication
and trade; intelligence sharing; naval diplomacy; fishery protection; conducting sealift operations to
support humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) missions; and co-operation at a
regional level.
“Responding to maritime disasters has been a recent phenomenon with the MT New Diamond and
X-Press Pearl incidents in Sri Lankan waters too,” he added. In September 2020 the oil tanker MT
New Diamond caught fire, killing a crew member. The fire raged for a week before it was
eventually brought under control. In May 2021 the cargo ship X-Press Pearl carrying toxic
chemicals caught fire causing an environmental catastrophe. In both incidents ships from India and
other countries provided assistance but it highlighted a capability gap in the SLN to respond to this
type of crisis.
“Monitoring the Sri Lankan fishing fleet at high seas is also gaining importance,” Rear Adm
Mahawithana said, “The SLN is currently carrying out mission-based high-seas deployments of
longer durations than ever before, thus paving the way for EEZ patrols to curb IUU fishing too.”
Despite increasing its operations on the high seas, the SLN fleet remains a green-water force. It
consists of offshore patrol vessels (OPVs), fast gun boats (FGBs), and fast attack craft (FAC)
alongside a large inshore patrol craft (IPC) flotilla. “Our OPVs, embarked with a helicopter,
represent our blue-water capability, the FGBs and FACs along with the IPCs represent our brown-
water fleet.”
Through the Maritime Strategy and the MDSL, the SLN nurses an ambition to professionalise the
service, develop leadership skills, and have a more structured career development programme. It
has also formalised plans for a ‘Twenty Ship Navy' by 2025 and will build on the navy's recent ship
purchases.
Since 2016, the SLN has acquired two ex-Bay-class patrol craft from Australia (SLNS Mihikatha
P350 and SLNS Rathnadeepa P351), two OPVs from Goa Shipyard Limited in India (SLNS
Sayurala P623 and SLNS Sindarula P624), two ex-Indian Navy OPVs, an ex-Chinese People's
Liberation Army Navy frigate, and two ex-Hamilton-class cutters from the US Coast Guard
(USCG). The Sri Lanka Coast Guard also received an OPV ( Varuna SLCG-60) from the Indian
© 2022 Jane’s Group UK Limited. No portion of this report may be reproduced, reused, or otherwise distributed in any form Page 2 of 4
without prior written consent, with the exception of any internal client distribution as may be permitted in the license agreement
between client and Jane’s. Content reproduced or redistributed with Jane’s permission must display Jane’s legal notices and
attributions of authorship. The information contained herein is from sources considered reliable but its accuracy and completeness
are not warranted, nor are the opinions and analyses which are based upon it, and to the extent permitted by law, Jane’s shall not
be liable for any errors or omissions or any loss, damage or expense incurred by reliance on information or any statement
contained herein.
“The main role has shifted towards the high seas, where trans-boundary drug trafficking is
flourishing in the aftermath of 2009. We have new challenges to face,” Rear Adm Mahawithana
said, “We have to seriously look into drug trafficking, human smuggling, poaching/IUU [illegal,
unreported, and unregulated] fishing, marine pollution, responding to maritime disasters, search-
and-rescue, among many others.”
Sri Lanka has a coastline of 1,340 km to monitor, with an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) seven
times its land area. In August 2019 the SLN published its 2025 Maritime Strategy. This was
followed by its first ever Maritime Doctrine of Sri Lanka (MDSL) in July 2020 that seeks to align
the service's capability with the national interest and meet these challenges.
Rear Adm Mahawithana explained that these policies are widening the role of the SLN to include
surveillance and monitoring of Sri Lanka's maritime zones; securing sea lines of communication
and trade; intelligence sharing; naval diplomacy; fishery protection; conducting sealift operations to
support humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) missions; and co-operation at a
regional level.
“Responding to maritime disasters has been a recent phenomenon with the MT New Diamond and
X-Press Pearl incidents in Sri Lankan waters too,” he added. In September 2020 the oil tanker MT
New Diamond caught fire, killing a crew member. The fire raged for a week before it was
eventually brought under control. In May 2021 the cargo ship X-Press Pearl carrying toxic
chemicals caught fire causing an environmental catastrophe. In both incidents ships from India and
other countries provided assistance but it highlighted a capability gap in the SLN to respond to this
type of crisis.
“Monitoring the Sri Lankan fishing fleet at high seas is also gaining importance,” Rear Adm
Mahawithana said, “The SLN is currently carrying out mission-based high-seas deployments of
longer durations than ever before, thus paving the way for EEZ patrols to curb IUU fishing too.”
Despite increasing its operations on the high seas, the SLN fleet remains a green-water force. It
consists of offshore patrol vessels (OPVs), fast gun boats (FGBs), and fast attack craft (FAC)
alongside a large inshore patrol craft (IPC) flotilla. “Our OPVs, embarked with a helicopter,
represent our blue-water capability, the FGBs and FACs along with the IPCs represent our brown-
water fleet.”
Through the Maritime Strategy and the MDSL, the SLN nurses an ambition to professionalise the
service, develop leadership skills, and have a more structured career development programme. It
has also formalised plans for a ‘Twenty Ship Navy' by 2025 and will build on the navy's recent ship
purchases.
Since 2016, the SLN has acquired two ex-Bay-class patrol craft from Australia (SLNS Mihikatha
P350 and SLNS Rathnadeepa P351), two OPVs from Goa Shipyard Limited in India (SLNS
Sayurala P623 and SLNS Sindarula P624), two ex-Indian Navy OPVs, an ex-Chinese People's
Liberation Army Navy frigate, and two ex-Hamilton-class cutters from the US Coast Guard
(USCG). The Sri Lanka Coast Guard also received an OPV ( Varuna SLCG-60) from the Indian
© 2022 Jane’s Group UK Limited. No portion of this report may be reproduced, reused, or otherwise distributed in any form Page 2 of 4
without prior written consent, with the exception of any internal client distribution as may be permitted in the license agreement
between client and Jane’s. Content reproduced or redistributed with Jane’s permission must display Jane’s legal notices and
attributions of authorship. The information contained herein is from sources considered reliable but its accuracy and completeness
are not warranted, nor are the opinions and analyses which are based upon it, and to the extent permitted by law, Jane’s shall not
be liable for any errors or omissions or any loss, damage or expense incurred by reliance on information or any statement
contained herein.
