8 Medium Regiment – Sri Lanka Artillery

The 8th Regiment of Sri Lanka Artillery was formed under the directive of the Army Headquarters as a reinforcement unit to perform infantry duties in the North and East. Thus in keeping with the tradition and norms of the regiment of Artillery the new regiment was formed on the 01 January 1994 in Panagoda under the Leadership of Lt Col VR Silva IG, the 1st Commanding officer of the unit.

The officer and soldiers who reported to form the new regiment were primarily from classic Artillery units. During the regiment tenure as a RFT unit it performed infantry duties under command to SF HQ (Wanni) in Gajasinghepura, Thandikulam & Musalkutti from Jan 1994 to November 1994. Later troops were relived from the Vauvniya area in order to deploy in Mannar Island.

On the 6th of March 1996 the 8th regiment (RFT) was declared as a classic Artillery unit and was instructed to take up duties as a Medium Artillery Regiment with 130 mm guns. With the transition of the RFT Regiment to a fully-fledged classic unit with 130 mm medium guns, deployed in all theaters of conflict in the country.