Commander of the Air Force (Sri Lanka)

Commander of the Sri Lanka Air Force
ශ්‍රී ලංකා ගුවන් හමුදාපති
Incumbent Air Marshal Udeni Rajapaksa since 30 June 2023
Sri Lanka Air Force
Member of	National Security Council
Reports to	Ministry of Defence Chief of Defence Staff
Residence	Air Force House, Colombo
Seat	Air Force Headquarters, Kumaran Rutnam road, Colombo 2
Appointer	The President
Term length	Not fixed
Constituting instrument	Air Force Act, No. 41 of 1949
Formation	2 March 1951 (1951-03-02) as Commander of the Royal Ceylon Air Force
First holder	Group Captain Graham Bladon (as Commander RCyAF)
Deputy	Chief of Staff of the Sri Lanka Air Force
Website	Official website

The Commander of the Air Force is the professional head of the Sri Lanka Air Force. The current Commander of the Air Force is Air Marshal Sudarshana Pathirana. It is a position comparable to that of Chief of the Air Staff of the Royal Air Force. The Chief of Staff of the Air Force acts as a deputy commander within the command structure.

All serving air force commanders have been of the rank of air marshal, promoted to the honorary rank of air chief marshal on retirement or on appointment to Chief of Defence Staff (CDS).

List of commanders

No.	Picture	Commander	Took office	Left office	Time in office	Unit	Ref.
1		Bladon, GrahamAir Commodore Graham Bladon CBE (1899–1967)	5 May 1950	24 October 1958	8 years, 172 days	–
2		Barker, JohnAir Vice Marshal John Barker CB, CBE, DFC (1910–2004)	24 October 1958	12 November 1962	4 years, 19 days	–
3		Amerasekera, RohanAir Vice Marshal Rohan Amerasekera DFC & Bar (1916–1974)	12 November 1962	31 December 1970	8 years, 49 days	No. 2 Squadron SLAF
4		Mendis, PaddyAir Chief Marshal Deshamanya Paddy Mendis (1933–2022)	1 January 1971	1 November 1976	5 years, 305 days	No. 2 Squadron SLAF No. 5 Squadron SLAF
5		Goonatilake, HarryAir Chief Marshal Harry Goonatilake USP (1929–2008)	1 November 1976	30 April 1981	4 years, 180 days	No. 2 Squadron SLAF
6		Perera, DickAir Chief Marshal Dick Perera VSV	1 May 1981	30 April 1985	3 years, 364 days	No. 2 Squadron SLAF
7		Fernando, WalterAir Chief Marshal Walter Fernando VSV	1 May 1985	31 July 1990	5 years, 91 days	No. 4 Squadron SLAF
8		Gunawardena, TerryAir Chief Marshal Terry Gunawardena VSV	1 August 1990	16 February 1994	3 years, 199 days	No. 2 Squadron SLAF
9		Ranasinghe, OliverAir Chief Marshal Oliver Ranasinghe RWP, VSV, USP	17 February 1994	5 March 1998	4 years, 16 days	No. 5 Squadron SLAF
10		Weerakkody, JayalathAir Chief Marshal Jayalath Weerakkody RWP, VSV, USP	6 March 1998	15 July 2002	4 years, 131 days	No. 2 Squadron SLAF No. 4 Squadron SLAF
11		Perera, DonaldAir Chief Marshal Donald Perera VSV, USP	16 July 2002	11 June 2006	3 years, 330 days	No. 2 Squadron SLAF
12		Goonetileke, RoshanMarshal of the Air Force Roshan Goonetileke RWP, VSV, USP (born 1956)	11 June 2006	27 February 2011	4 years, 261 days	No. 4 Squadron SLAF
13		Abeywickrama, HarshaAir Chief Marshal Harsha Abeywickrama RWP, RSP, VSV, USP	27 February 2011	27 February 2014	3 years, 0 days	No. 5 Squadron SLAF
14		Gunathilake, KolithaAir Chief Marshal Kolitha Gunathilake RWP, RSP, VSV, USP	27 February 2014	15 June 2015	1 year, 108 days	No. 2 Squadron SLAF
15		Bulathsinghala, GaganAir Chief Marshal Gagan Bulathsinghala RWP, RSP, USP, VSV (born 1961)	15 June 2015	12 September 2016	1 year, 89 days	No. 4 Squadron SLAF
16		Jayampathy, KapilaAir Chief Marshal Kapila Jayampathy WWV, RWP, RSP, VSV, USP	13 September 2016	29 May 2019	2 years, 258 days	No. 4 Squadron SLAF
17		Dias, SumangalaAir Chief Marshal Sumangala Dias RSP	30 May 2019	2 November 2020	1 year, 156 days	No. 6 Squadron SLAF
18		PATHIRANA, SudarshanaAir Chief Marshal Sudarshana Pathirana WWV, RWP, RSP, VSV, USP	2 November 2020	29 June 2023	2 years, 239 days	No. 5 Squadron SLAF No. 10 Squadron SLAF	–
19		Rajapaksa, UdeniAir Marshal Udeni Rajapaksa RWP, VSV, USP	30 June 2023	Incumbent	1 year, 144 days	No. 2 Squadron SLAF No. 8 Squadron SLAF	–

See also

• Sri Lanka Air Force
• Commander of the Army
• Commander of the Navy