‘Exercise - Cormorant Strike VII’ Launched in Kokilai
‘Exercise - Cormorant Strike VII’ Launched in Kokilai
4th September 2016
The \'Exercise - Cormorant Strike VII - 2016\', Sri Lanka Army’s novel Field Training Exercise (FTX) with a record participation of 3458 Army, Navy and Air Force troops, including 58 foreign participants and observers, kicked off for the 7th consecutive year this morning (4) from Kokilai after a comprehensive preparatory meeting, held at the mock Operational Headquarters at Minneriya.
2500 infantrymen, including largely the Commandos and Special Forces of the Army, 638 sailors and 506 airmen, together with those foreign participants from Bangladesh, China, India, Japan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and the USA, formally joined the mega Exercise after Major General Sudantha Ranasinghe, Exercise Director delivered a speech, encompassing all minute details in a special presentation, attended by Brigadier Ralf Nugera, Brigadier Pradeep Silva and Brigadier Priyantha Perera, Deputy Directors of the Exercise and Colonel Nishantha Herath, Additional Deputy Director of the Exercise.
The Exercise will terminate on September 25 after a mammoth display on the previous day, prior to the closing ceremony.
The \'Exercise - Cormorant Strike VII - 2016\' planned and executed by a panel of Exercise Directors with the coordination of Directorate of Training and under the supervision of Major General Jagath Alwis, Commander, Army Training Command (ARTRAC).
The Exercise, covering South of Kokilai and North of Panama in the Security Force Headquarters - East (SFHQ-E) area and a minor portion of the Security Force Headquarters - Wanni (SFHQ-W) area is to be coupled with simultaneous mock seaborne and airborne operations and is slated to further promote special operation capabilities and maintain combat readiness at all levels with a view to transmitting and sharing the sea of experiences the Sri Lanka Army, has had gathered in the world\'s biggest and most successful humanitarian operation before May 2009.
The Exercise at its final stages expects to join with Army troops for direct onslaughts against enemy strongholds. This Army-initiated mock Field Training Exercise (FTX), organized and implemented in close cooperation with Sri Lanka Navy and Air Force has been designed for deployment of their troops in a war milieu of Special Operations at any given moment and planned for conduct of joint operations as one team, using manoeuvrist approach, encompassing planning, execution and command.
It also focuses on comprehensive planning, preparations, formulations, coordination, command, control, tactics, techniques and procedures (TTP) and execution of Special Operations, etc within given frameworks.
Lieutenant General Crishanthe De Silva, Commander of the Army, contributing his views to the initial preparatory phases of the Exercise, maintained that the Sri Lanka Army, having defeated the world\'s most ruthless terrorist outfit, should sustain the status quo in relation to national security concerns and be always well-geared to take on any future challenge against the country or her people, as the most prominent defender of the nation.
Captain H. R. F. M. Tissera, Joint Force Naval Component Commander - Exercise ‘Cormorant Strike’ and Air Commodore P. D. K. T Jayasinghe, Joint Force Air Component Commander - Exercise ‘Cormorant Strike’ are the coordinators for Navy and Air Force troops.
Based on hypothetical scenario and focused on achieving training objectives, this year’s Exercise will train the participants on Patrolling, Infiltration, / Ex-filtration, Reconnaissance and Surveillance, Combat Tracking, Link-up, Caches, Demolitions, Raids, Ambushes, Cut-off and Blocks, Rescue Missions, Cat Sniping, Urban Fighting and Disaster Relief Missions.
The Exercise has this year succeeded in attracting more participants from foreign nations. The Exercise will terminate on September 25, 2016 after a display on the previous day (Sept 24) at Arisimalai, Yanoya.
