Airpower in the Hands of Tamil Tigers

-Pritam S Rana
Published in The Kathmandu Post, Saturday, May 19, 2007

The acquisition of air power by Tamil Tiger rebels lately in Sri Lanka is a matter of immense importance to scholars of insurgency. It is unprecedented in the sense that no rebel outfit in the post-World War II history of the region has acquired aircraft to be used for various military applications. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) managed to acquire light rainer aircraft after fighting primarily on the ground and sea for many years and use the newly acquired capability skilfully against its enemy, the Sri Lankan military. The effect, although limited in military value, has had a powerful psychological impact on not only the Sri Lankans but alarm bells have rung as far away as New Delhi and Washington.

Although the attack on Katunayake airbase on March 2007 was prominently covered by the media and was dubbed as the first air raid by the Tamil rebels, it is thought that the Tigers has been preparing for many years to acquire air capability. According to wikipedia.org, the LTTE credits an Indian trained aeronautical engineer, "Colonel Shankar", for the formation of Air Tigers or Vaanpuligal. Existence of Tiger flown aircraft was reportedly existing since as early as 1998. But the Sri Lankan government officials refused to believe it saying it was nothing but LTTE propaganda.

The suddenly on March 26, 2007, two light Tamil Tiger flown aircraft, believed to be Czech designed Zlin Z-143s penetrated Katunayake airbase north of Colombo dropping several light bombs. Three air force personnel were killed and another 16 were wounded. It was thought that the Tigers intended to take out Sri Lankan Air Force MiG-27s and Kfir jets parked on the tarmac but did not succeed. From being a master of the Sri Lankan sky (aerospace), the air force suddenly faced a threat of aerial bombing. Until then it had a monopoly in the protracted armed conflict in the island nation. Sri Lankan generals lacked a clear foresight and could not even imagine that the LTTE had a multi-dimensional threat. Sri Lankan defense officials had invested only in aircraft like Israeli made Kfirs and Russian designed MiG-27s, which are primarily ground attack aircraft. These aircraft have restricted air combat capability and are thus not suitable to conduct air superiority operations to counter Tamil aircraft in the air. therefore, Sri lankan government now has to purchase surface to air missiles to guard its air bases and other military installations. it is also possible that LTTE might resort to attack economic targets or even civilians. So air defesne would be the top priority for Sri Lankan generals. There might also be pressure on the Sri Lankan Air Force to focus on locating Tiger airfields and bombing them out of commission. Its traditional air support role would have to be curtial meaning that ground forces and naval forces have to fend for themselves. having only around 20 combat aircraft grouped in two squadrons, the new pressure created by Tamil Tiger air capability would be severe on Sri Lankan Air Force. it does not take an expert to see that Sri Lanka won't be able to afford sexy jet fighters to counter LTTE air power as its economy is already feeling the pinch of renewed hostilities.

According to media reports, India was admamant that the radars it supplied to Sri Lanka were perfectly all right. Small aircraft like Zlin Z-143 when flying low are difficult for advanced interceptors like MiG-29 and Mirage 2000 in Indian service to detect, track and achieve a lock on such small and elusive target. A proven example is the incident in 1987 when a 19-year old German, mathias Rust, eluded the massive air defense systemof the then Soviet Union and landed his small airplane at the Red Square, Moscow.

Intelligence and military officials in India too must be worried about the LTTE's air capability. india is nervous that a host of insurgents poised against it might somehow acquire aircraft to drop bombs or worse, chemical or biological weapons. The US too cannot ignore the threat as it too faces insurgencies in Afghanistan and Iraq where were insurgents acquiring air power could only mean deep trouble. The Americans have not yet forgotten how difficult it is to shoot down small and elusive intruders. They know this well from their experience in Korea nad Vietnam.

The Tamil Tigers are fighting against a thrid world power, the Sri Lankan government. The tigers control a huge swathe of territory where they enjoy support from the Tamil population. The Tamil separatists have sought to address a grievance of discrimination by the majority Sinhalas for years. Broad support base and help from expatriate Tamils have allowed the Tigers to create a formidable organization which includes Sea Tigers (the Tiger navy) and Black Tigers (suicide unit). Long experience of fighting the government forces coupled with broad base support has allowed the Tigers to create an air arm to carry out their protracted struggle. if others emulate it, it means more problems for governments.

THE END

Authors' note:- I saw a similar article on The Economist. I saw that after I published it. My resource base for soem facts is www.wikipedia.org. Other analysis due to my extensive reading of various Western publications. I still want to give a major credit to Jane's Defense Weekly for teaching me about military hardware identification. I own their Tanks (bought in Ekta Educational Palace, Jawalakhel, Nepal and Airplane Handbook bought in a bookstore in Friar Street, Van Nuys. Some credit goes to Bill Sweetman's Fighter Combat in the Jet Age, which taught me experience of the USAF in Korea and Vietnam. More scholarly credit goes to Dr. Thomas A. Marks, who lectured me on counter-insurgency strategies through books like Bard O'Neill's Insurgency and Terrorism and the ICASP journal.