Chief of Staff of the Sri Lanka Army

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Chief of Staff of the Army
Incumbent
Major General Dinesh Nanayakkara
Sri Lanka Army
TypeSeconed in Command of the Sri Lank Army, Deputy to the Commander of the Army
StatusTwo star general
AbbreviationCOS
Reports toCommander of the Army
ResidenceColombo
SeatArmy HQ
NominatorPresident of Sri Lanka
AppointerPresident of Sri Lanka
Term lengthNot fixed
PrecursorChief of General Staff
Formation1949
First holderLt. Col. Anton Muttukumaru
DeputyDeputy Chief of Staff
Sri Lanka Army
Components
History
Equipment
Leadership and ranks

Chief of Staff of the Army (CoSA) has been the title of the second in command of the Sri Lanka Army. The post is held by a regular officer of the rank of major general and is the second senior position in the army. Chief of staff is charged with assisting the Army Commander in both operational and administrative aspects, functioning as the Acting Army Commander in his absences or incantation. Chief of staff is assisted by the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Army.[1]

History

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The post was established in 1949, when Lieutenant Colonel Anton Muttukumaru was appointed as chief of staff to Brigadier the Earl of Caithness, the first Army Commander when the Ceylon Army was formed. The post was thereafter held by one of the senior most officers in the Ceylon Army, usually of the rank of colonel. In 1955, Colonel Gerard Wijeyekoon held the post and served as Acting Army Commander, while Brigadier Muttukumaru attend Imperial Defence College. On his return in 1956 Brigadier Muttukumaru assumed command of the army and Colonel Wijeyekoon was transferred to the newly created post of Commandant of the Volunteer Force which became the second most senior post in the army. Since 1966, it became the third-ranking after that of Army Commander. In the 1970s the post became a Brigadier's posting In the early 1990s the post of Deputy Chief of Staff was created. The post of chief of staff has become a major general's posting since the early 1980s.[2]

List of chiefs of staff

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No Chief of Staff Took office Left office Unit of commission Notes
1 Lieutenant Colonel Anton Muttukumaru 10 October 1949 31 December 1953 Ceylon Light Infantry Later Lieutenant ColonelAnton Muttukumaru was appointed as 3rd Commander of the Army and promoted to Major General.
2 Lieutenant Colonel H.W.G. Wijeyekoon 1 January 1954 09 February 1955 Ceylon Light Infantry Later Lieutenant Colonel H. W. G. Wijeyekoon was appointed as 4th Commander of the Army and promoted to Major General.
3 Colonel Maurice de Mel 10 February 1955 13 November 1959 Ceylon Garrison Artillery
4 Colonel Bertram Heyn 13 November 1959 1 December 1962 Ceylon Light Infantry Later Colonel Bertram Heyn was appointed as 6th Commander of the Army and promoted to Brigadier. Later he was promoted to Major General.
5 Colonel Richard Udugama 1 December 1962 14 November 1963 Ceylon Light Infantry Later Colonel Richard Udugama was appointed as 5th Commander of the Army and promoted to Brigadier. He was later promoted to the rank of Major General.
6 Colonel Sepala Attygalle 21 March 1964 22 September 1967 Ceylon Light Infantry Later Colonel Sepala Attygalle was appointed as 7th Commander of the Army and promoted to General on his retirement.
7 Colonel P. D. Ramayanayake 26 March 1966 5 January 1967 Ceylon Engineers Officiated while Colonel Sepala Attygalle following his Imperial Defence College course in London.
8 Brigadier M. A. Jayaweera 1 February 1969 1 February 1974 Ceylon Light Infantry
9 Brigadier E. T. De Z Abeysekera 1 February 1974 3 May 1976 Ceylon Light Infantry
10 Brigadier C. T. Caldera 3 May 1976 1 April 1977 Ceylon Light Infantry
11 Brigadier Denis Perera 5 August 1977 13 October 1977 Ceylon Engineers Later Brigadier Denis Perera was appointed as 8th Commander of the Army and promoted to Major General. On his retirement he was promoted to Lieutenant General. In 2007 he was promoted to General.
12 Brigadier T. S. B. Sally 1 December 1977 15 March 1979 Ceylon Light Infantry On two occasions (18 February 1978 and 16 October 1978) Brig Sally was acting Commander of the Army when the Commander was overseas on assignments. He was the last officer from the Ceylon Defence Force to leave active service.
13 Brigadier Tissa Weerathunga 18 March 1979 14 October 1981 Ceylon Light Infantry Later Brigadier Tissa Weerathunga was appointed as 9th Commander of the Army and promoted to Major General. On his retirement he was promoted to Lieutenant General and appointed as first General Officer Commanding of the Joint Operation Command.
14 Brigadier Cyril Ranatunga 15 February 1982 4 February 1983 Ceylon Light Infantry He retired as COS and later was recalled from retirement in September 1985 and promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General, to serve as the General Officer Commanding, Joint Operations Command (JOC).
15 Brigadier Mano Madawela 18 August 1983 24 September 1986 Gemunu Watch After Brigadier Cyril Ranatunga's retirement, post of Chief of Staff was vacant for around 8 months before Brigadier Mano Madawala's appointment.
16 Brigadier E. G. Thevanayagam 1 October 1986 10 January 1987 Ceylon Light Infantry
17 Brigadier J. G. Balthazar 10 January 1987 5 December 1987 Ceylon Light Infantry
18 Major General C. A. M. N. Silva 15 December 1987 4 July 1988 Ceylon Light Infantry
19 Major General Hamilton Wanasinghe 15 July 1988 16 August 1988 Ceylon Artillery Later Major General Hamilton Wanasinghe was appointed as 11th Commander of the Army and promoted to Lieutenant General. On his retirement he was promoted to General and appointed as the general officer commanding (GOC) of the Joint Operations Headquarters (JOH) serving from 1991 to 1993.
20 Major General S.M.A. Jayawardena 16 August 1988 18 March 1989 Ceylon Light Infantry
21 Major General Cecil Waidyaratne 23 March 1989 16 November 1991 Ceylon Armoured Corps Later Major General Cecil Waidyaratne was appointed as 12th Commander of the Army and promoted to Lieutenant General. On his retirement he was promoted to General.
22 Major General J. R. S de Silva 16 November 1991 10 June 1992 Ceylon Engineers
23 Major General Y. Balaretnarajah 10 June 1992 30 September 1992 Ceylon Armoured Corps
24 Major General G. H. de Silva 23 October 1992 1 January 1994 Ceylon Sinha Regiment Later Major General G. H. De Silva was appointed as 13th Commander of the Army and promoted to Lieutenant General. On his retirement he was promoted to General.
25 Major General Lakshman Algama 1 January 1994 2 April 1995 Gemunu Watch
26 Major General Rohan Daluwatte 2 June 1995 1 May 1996 Ceylon Armoured Corps Later Major General Rohan Daluwatte was appointed as 14th Commander of the Army and promoted to Lieutenant General. On his retirement he was promoted to General. After his retirement, he was appointed Chairman of the newly created Joint Operations Bureau, however he was reinstated to active service with the formation of the post of Chief of Defence Staff.
27 Major General A.M.U. Seneviratne 1 May 1996 10 December 1996 Ceylon Light Infantry
28 Major General H.S. Hapuarachchi 11 December 1996 22 February 1998 Ceylon Sinha Regiment
29 Major General Srilal Weerasooriya 23 February 1998 16 December 1998 Ceylon Artillery Later Major General Srilal Weerasooriya was appointed as 15th Commander of the Army and promoted to Lieutenant General. On his retirement he was promoted to General.
30 Major General Patrick Fernando 16 December 1998 2 April 1999 Gemunu Watch
31 Major General Lionel Balagalle 2 April 1999 24 August 2000 Ceylon Artillery Later Major General Lionel Balagalle was appointed as 16th Commander of the Army and promoted to Lieutenant General. On 10 October 2003, he was appointed as Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS) as serving army commander.
32 Major General Janaka Perera 15 June 2000 31 January 2001 Ceylon Engineers
33 Major General Neil Dias 1 February 2001 13 April 2002
34 Major General Lohan Gunawardena 13 April 2002 22 November 2003
35 Major General Shantha Kottegoda 23 November 2003 30 June 2004 Ceylon Light Infantry Later Major General Shantha Kottegoda was appointed as 17th Commander of the Army and promoted to Lieutenant General. On his retirement he was promoted to General.
36 Major General Chula Seneviratne 1 July 2004 9 December 2004 Ceylon Signals Corps
37 Major General Sarath Fonseka 9 December 2004 6 December 2005 Ceylon Sinha Regiment Later Major General Sarath Fonseka was appointed as 18th Commander of the Army and promoted to Lieutenant General. At the end of the war he was promoted to General, becoming the first army commander to hold a full General rank. On 15 July 2009 he was the first person appointed CDS under the newly approved Chief of Defence Staff Act. On On 22 March 2015, he was promoted to Field Marshal.
38 Major General Nanda Mallawaarachchi 6 December 2005 3 February 2007 Sri Lanka Light Infantry
39 Major General U.B.L. Fernando 3 February 2007 5 February 2008 Gajaba Regiment
40 Major General N Wijesinghe 5 February 2008 2 March 2009 Sri Lanka Artillery
41 Major General G.A. Chandrasiri 1 March 2009 12 July 2009 Sri Lanka Armoured Corps
42 Major General Mendaka Samarasinghe 24 July 2009 29 January 2010 Sri Lanka Engineers
43 Major General Daya Ratnayake January 2010 30 July 2013 Sri Lanka Light Infantry Later Major General Daya Ratnayake was appointed as 20th Commander of the Army and promoted to Lieutenant General. On his retirement he was promoted to General.
44 Major General A.W.J.C. De Silva 5 September 2013 16 June 2014 Sri Lanka Engineers Later Major General Crishantha de Silva was appointed as 21st Commander of the Army and promoted to Lieutenant General. In June 2017 he was promoted to General and appointed as Chief of Defence Staff.
45 Major General Prasad Samarasinghe 17 May 2014 6 May 2015 Sri Lanka Signals Corps
46 Major General Jagath Dias 7 May 2015 26 December 2015 Vijayabahu Infantry Regiment
47 Major General Milinda Peiris 12 February 2016 11 August 2016 Sri Lanka Armoured Corps
48 Major General Ubaya Madawela 1 November 2016 2 December 2016 Sri Lanka Armoured Corps
49 Major General Channa Gunathilaka 14 December 2016 March 2017 Sri Lanka Engineers
50 Major General Mahesh Senanayake 22 March 2017 3 July 2017 Sri Lanka Engineers Later Major General Mahesh Senanayake was appointed as 22nd Commander of the Army and promoted to Lieutenant General. On his retirement he was promoted to General.
51 Major General Amal Karunasekara 22 July 2017 13 March 2018 Sri Lanka Light Infantry
52 Major General Dampath Fernando 27 April 2018 December 2018 Gemunu Watch
53 Major General Shavendra Silva 9 January 2019 18 August 2019 Gajaba Regiment Later Major General Shavendra Silva was appointed as 23rd Commander of the Army and promoted to Lieutenant General. In January 2020, General Silva was appointed as Acting Chief of Defence Staff, while serving as Army Commander. He was promoted to the rank of General on 28 December 2020. On his retirement on 1 June 2022, he was confirmed as Chief of Defence Staff.
54 Major General Sathyapriya Liyanage 23 August 2019 1 June 2020 Sri Lanka Armoured Corps
55 Major General Jagath Gunawardena 2 June 2020 15 December 2020 Sri Lanka Engineers
56 Major General Prabath Dematanpitiya 16 December 2020 17 January 2021 Sri Lanka Signals Corps
57 Major General Senarath Bandara 18 January 2021 16 July 2021 Gemunu Watch
58 Major General Priyantha Perera 17 July 2021 6 December 2021 Gemunu Watch
59 Major General Vikum Liyanage 7 December 2021 30 May 2022 Gajaba Regiment Later Major General Vikum Liyanage was appointed as 24th Commander of the Army and promoted to Lieutenant General.
60 Major General Jagath Kodithuwakku 8 June 2022 26 November 2022 Sri Lanka Light Infantry
61 Major General Channa Weerasuriya 29 November 2022 14 July 2023 Sri Lanka Light Infantry
62 Major General Sanjaya Wanasinghe 15 July 2023 13 October 2023 Sri Lanka Artillery He is the eldest son of 11th commander of Sri Lanka Army, General Hamilton Wanasinghe.
63 Major General W.H.K.S Peiris 16 December 2023 03 June 2024 Gajaba Regiment
64 Major General S.R.B. Aluvihare 20 June 2023 11 September 2024 Vijayabahu Infantry Regiment
65 Major General Dinesh Nanayakkara 13 September 2024 to date Sri Lanka Sinha Regiment

References

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  1. ^ "Army Establishment". army.lk. Sri Lanka Army. Retrieved 6 September 2019.
  2. ^ Athukorala. "Soldier, lawyer and diplomat". Daily News. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
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