Sri Lanka Army’s novel Field Training Exercise (FTX), the 'Exercise - Cormorant Strike V1 - 2015' conducted for the 6th consecutive year, started off on Thurdsay at Kokilai with the participation of Army, Navy, Air Force troops and a record 53 foreign participants and observers. 

2500 infantrymen, including largely the Commandos and Special Forces of the Army, 245 sailors and 140 airmen, together with those foreign participants from Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan and the US, joined the mega exercise beginning from Kokilai after a comprehensive preparatory meeting at the Operational Headquarters at Minneriya earlier on the day. The Exercise will terminate on September 23 with a mammoth display at Punnakuda. 

Planned and executed by the Directorate of Training at the Army Headquarters, the 'Exercise - Cormorant Strike V1 - 2015' is commanded by Brigadier H.H.A.S.P.K Senarathne as the Special Operation Commander under the able supervision of Major General Maithri Dias who acts as the Exercise Director. Final touches to the entire project were prepared on the directions of Major General Mano Perera, Commander, Army Training Command (ARTRAC).     

The Exercise, covering Pulmudai to North of Arugam Bay in the East 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, 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.

Commodore Ravindra Tissera, Commanding Officer, Special Boat Squadron and Wing Commander Deshapriya De Silva, 6 Helicopter Squadron as Commanding Officers for Navy and Air Force troops in the Exercise command their participants. Major General Darshana Hettiarachchi serves as the Deputy Director Exercise during the Operations. 

Based on hypothetical scenario and focused on achieving training objectives, this year’s Exercise will train the participants on Patrolling, Infiltration, / Exfiltration, 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 starting from the South of Kokilai and North of Panama has succeeded this year in attracting more foreign participants from foreign nations. The Exercise will terminate on September 22, 2015 with a display on the following day (Sept 23) at Punnakuda.

(army.lk)