SLAF Chief attends virtual conference hosted by US PACAF to discuss resuming joint exercises

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 May 2020, 22:29 GMT]
The Commander of the United States Pacific Air Forces (PACAF) Gen. CQ Brown, Jr., was hosting a virtual teleconference call with the air chiefs of nineteen countries on 30 April 2020. The PACAF Commander was discussing “virtual Subject Matter Expert exchanges or continuing the practice of physically distancing aircrews while enhancing opportunities to train and integrate in the air,” according to a news release issued by the US Pacific Air Forces on Saturday. The Commander of the SL Air Force (SLAF) Air Marshal Dambure Liyanage Sumangala Dias, who took part in the Pacific Air Chiefs Symposium (PACS 19) in December 2019, joined the conference. The SLAF participation is an indication that SL President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, a “former” US citizen, considers his airforce as part of the US and India-led alliance in the airspace of the Indo-Pacific, Tamil political observers in Jaffna said.

“Like the symposium that brought many of us together in person just a few months ago, this gathering is grounded in the shared belief that collaboration is required to meet the global challenges,” General CQ Brown, Jr., was quoted as saying.

Air force chiefs from Australia, Bangladesh, Brunei, Canada, Chile, France, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, New Zealand, the Philippines, the Republic of Korea, the Republic of Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, and the United States took part in the video teleconference.

“Due to a scheduling conflict, Brown spoke with the Indian Air Force chief of staff the day prior, and was able to share his inputs with all participants during the VTC,” the PACAF statement said.

The statement further said that the discussion focused on “sharing lessons learned regarding COVID-19 response, desires for resuming engagement and exercises in a post COVID world, and a commitment to continued cooperation across the Indo-Pacific region.”

In March, a US Army Special Forces (Green Berets) team attached to the US Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM) was present in Trincomalee conducting a four-week-long training with two notorious wartime formations of the occupying navy of genocidal Sri Lanka.



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