Sri Lankan 4th ARMOURED REGIMENT - Foreign Military Studies ...

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had received training on the olderCenturion MBT.The end of the Cold War in earlynineties saw down sizing of WarsawPact armies with thousands of ‘T Series’battle tanks available for sale in the cashstrapped former communist bloccountries. One such country wasCzechoslovakia. The Sri Lanka Armyexamined the available options anddecided to procure a less sophisticatedbut versatile battle tank. After muchdeliberation, debate and discussion, adecision was made to acquire the Czechbuilt T-55 MBT. The Sri LankaArmoured Corps was on the threshold ofevolving from wheels to tracks, a muchawaited desire of the Army’scavalrymen.Visit to CzechoslovakiaIn August 1991 an eight-memberTechnical Evaluation Team headed bythe Regimental Commander Brigadier T.Paranagama, two officers from SriLanka Electrical and MechanicalEngineer Regiment, an AmmunitionTechnical Officer from Sri LankaOrdnance Corps, a Technical Officerfrom Signal Corps, myself, Lt Col NRMarambe, Commanding Officer 3rdRecce Regiment and Majors ArunaPerera and Milinda Peiris left forCzechoslovakia. The mission was toevaluate the T-55 MBT and submit areport to the Ministry of Defence.Czechoslovakia was an EastEuropean Communist country that was aformer member of the Warsaw Pactmilitary alliance. It manufactured T-55sunder license from the former SovietUnion and was considered to be the mosttechnologically advanced country amongthe ten member states. After the fall ofthe Soviet Union in the early nineties theWarsaw Pact disintegrated andCzechoslovakia broke loose from Soviet4
influence and became an independentstate. The country had two major ethniccommunities – Czechs and Slovaks. Inthe late nineties when Eastern Europetransformed, many new independentstates emerged based mainly on ethniccomposition. Czechoslovakia separatedpeacefully and became two Republics –The Czech Republic and SlovakRepublic.the Czech Armour Centre in Brno for abriefing and display of equipment. Welater travelled to a picturesque little townabout 200 miles southeast of Praguecalled Zvolen, which housed a huge tankyard. Next day, the team was taken tothe yard holding hundreds of canopycovered tanks. There were T-55s, T-62sand latest T-72s. The Sri Lanka militarydelegation was mandated to selecttwenty-five MBTs, so we were escortedto a corner of the yard and shown someparked tanks. They certainly were notthe best in the yard.Sri Lanka’s desire to procure amere twenty five tanks did not seem tointerest them much and the response wasZvolen, Czech Republic 2The Technical Evaluation Teamarrived in Prague, capital ofCzechoslovakia, and we were taken to2 http://www.touristchannel.sk/zvolen/indexen.htmlnaturally lukewarm. It was later knownthat the Czechs were expecting anIranian military delegation in thefollowing week to procure five hundredtanks. Consequently, Sri Lanka’spurchase and the visiting delegation5
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Page 3: tracked vehicles. A reluctance toin
Page 7 and 8: Classic Sri Lankan hospitalityand b
Page 9 and 10: making the final decision. He arriv
Page 11 and 12: II. Field Marshall BernardMontgomme
Page 13 and 14: with buildings, jetties and sheds.
Page 15 and 16: “WE NEVER WAVERED BECAUSE, IN THE
Page 17 and 18: It was a challenge thrown at me and
Page 19 and 20: trailers to camp. They contained ta
Page 21 and 22: eportedly used in twenty-threecount
Page 23 and 24: The Commander of the Army Lieutenan
Page 25 and 26: conditioning was an area that drewr
Page 27 and 28: een done at the time. I was directe
Page 29 and 30: In late December 1991 after sixweek
Page 31 and 32: egiment they were adorned with aspe
Page 33: Brigadier C S N B Mudannayake RWP U

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