Sri Lankan Rebels Acquire A Modest Air Capability

Who the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam are depends less on your point of view than it used to do. Once, a case could be made that the LTTE, a violent terrorist group fighting for a racial/ethnic homeland separate from Sri Lanka, were freedom fighters. They claimed many grievances, and made a case that they had been mistreated and subjugated by the majority Sinhalese of the island nation. But their methods -- they're the guys who put suicide bombing on the map 20 years ago -- and the nihilism of their target selection turned many who usually flock to the side of the underdog against them.

Now, we're getting word that the LTTE had an air force.

Do they? The group's spokesmen, in their safe havens in foreign countries, are playing it coy. Like the US Navy with nuclear weapons, they'll neither confirm nor deny. However, clandestine rebel radio stations have claimed that the aircraft were used recently in a celebration to honor the Tigers' dead, which number about 13,000 in 22 years of war (most of the war's 51,000 other dead were civilians killed in LTTE attacks).

The Sri Lankan government believes that the LTTE has smuggled parts and assembled perhaps two light aircraft at an airfield in a rebel-held zone in northern Sri Lanka. Sri Lankan officials raised that question at recent meetings with Indian diplomats and with US Secretary of State Condaleeza Rice during talks with Sri Lankan officials in Washington. Secretary Rice reportedly told the Sri Lankans that the US takes such charges very seriously.

Indian Foreign Minister Natwar Singh is not only convinced the planes exist, he thinks that more are on the way.

UPDATE: LTTE Sources now identify the Tigers' air force as two Czech-made Moravan Zlin Z-143 lightplanes. Commodore RS Vasan of the Indian Navy (Retired) has published an extensive analysis, with more details (the improved runway made by the Tigers is much longer than would be required by the Zlin -- 1250 meters, or 4,100 feet).

The Zlin 143 (shown here in factory photos) is a four-seat, Lycoming-powered, light GA utility plane, broadly similar to a Piper Cherokee, Warrior, or Archer, perhaps a bit sportier. It has a conventional aluminum semi-monocoque structure, and is certified under Part 23. It is not aerobatic, unlike many Zlins, including the similar-looking 242 (which has only two seats). The Z-143 is a popular plane in Europe, but has been slow catching on in the USA, despite enthusiastic importers and Zlin's reputation for quality and robust planes.

As we have frequently reported in these pages, such light aircraft pose a relatively minor threat. As Cdre. Vasan points out, the threat is more from the potential of larger aircraft using the clandestine airfield than anything the Zlins can do.

India once supported the Tamil Tigers, but in 1987 made peace with the Sri Lankan regime in Colombo. Since then, India has itself fighting against the Tigers or subjected to Tiger terrorism; indeed, Colombo got its initial tip about the nascent Tiger air wing from New Delhi.

Of course, the airfield is subject to monitoring by a Nordic UN group which is supposedly keeping peace between the Sri Lankans and their restive separatists. The war has been low-key since a 2002 cease-fire. On the ground in Sri Lanka, the Nordic team can't tell if the Tamil Tigers have aircraft or not. They won't land and look without permission from the rebels, and don't want the government bombing any rebel air bases either. "If bombs fall, we pull out," Monitoring Mission chief Hagrup Haukland told foreign correspondents in Sri Lanka last Thursday.

FMI: www.slmfa.gov.lk (government site), www.tamilnet.com (rebel site)