Thursday, August 14, 2008

Tunukkai about to fall

The strategic town of Tunukkai is about to fall. Sources indicated to this site that the town will fall within the next day or two. Already, small groups of Tigers are trying to escape the town as the army bypassed it and lay in ambush behind the town. Defence sources say that Tigers might abandon Tunukkai to fight another day and defend Kilinochchi.

If Tunukkai falls in the next few days, it won't take long for Mallavi to also fall. The fall of Mallavi will result in the fall of Mankulam on the A9. If the Army reaches the jungles at Mankulam and Kokavil, Kilinochchi will become untenable.

The Army took over control of the Vellankulam Tunukkai road last month. They are now in control of the Mulangavil-Tunukkai road. Units have also ventured into the Mallavi-Murugandi road. There is a famous Pullayar/Ganesha Kovil at Murugandi.

Troops yesterday captured the strategic town of Mulangavil. With the fall of Mulangavil, the Army has less than 15kms to Kilinochchi. 58 troops are now 20kms south of Pooneryn. In a few days, Pooneryn will be entirely within SLA artillery range.

The only worry to the Army as of now is the civilians forcibly kept as IDPs in Kilinochchi. If the LTTE decides to use them as a civilian shield, there will be much carnage.

84 comments:

londonistan said...

defencewire,

what is the status of the 62nd devision? We need another holding devision asap.

Ogre said...

recent advances should be kept secret. I know there is tremendous political pressure, but our jealous big brother India is having his own insecurities over Sri Lanka war.


The operational plans a very precise, and we should effortlessly try to avoid revealing too much details as one aspect of our plans is Strategy based on Surprise and stealth.


As in the past, dont worry about the jungles, we are already in them perhaps at least for 1 year.

I dream of a day when we encircle and eliminate LTTEs by the 100's. LTTE' s Dunkirk, Stalingrad...i hope is not far away.

In the meantime LTTE movements and possible strategies will now concentrate on the following

1. Preserve current fighting cadre
2. Move heavy weapons out of SLA range
3. Exploit weaknesses in SLA attack
4. Delay tactics to buy time to re supply-train current recruits
5. Anticipate and barricade future LTTE targets for the reasons above in 4.
6. Exploit launching attacks against SL economic targets in south - amoung these - fuel - transport - military supply bases - air fields are top priority.
7. Continue targeting Senior defense administrators - as well exploit lower rankers for bribes.
8. Destabilize East province - using small groups
9. Continue pushing international/ Local support groups such as FMM, HRW UN-HR panel through mediators to force a delay in attacks - this by creating a human catastrophe in Vanni.
10. LTTE has WMD's ready as a last resort
11. LTTE leadership must now consider fleeing the Island before the rest of cadre decides to kill leaders and disintegrate.

Tamil eezzhaam.....like a spoilt Uludu Waday...passing down in the toilette.

When LTTE is mentioned I want to think of the sound of flushing a toilette..

Ogre said...

I am so itching to post info...but sorry I cant

Unknown said...

[recent advances should be kept secret]

i aint no expert machang but i'm sure india have "eyes-on" every move we make in all our battlefronts with both human and electronic intel

Achi said...

Keep it up..

Bhairav said...

[recent advances should be kept secret. I know there is tremendous political pressure, but our jealous big brother India is having his own insecurities over Sri Lanka war.]

It seems you talk from your closet as you underestimate the intelligent agencies like RAW which is shadow of your every move and its moles are everywhere like of TMVP, EPDP and even the SLA hierarchy itself.

perein said...

Ogre-

I dream of a day when we encircle and eliminate LTTEs by the 100's. LTTE' s Dunkirk, Stalingrad...i hope is not far away.

Let's settle for current half centuries... surely centuries are not too far :)

perein said...

If 15KM to the Kili... Takaran air may fly any time....

Unknown said...

bhairav...
c'mon now... no need to get angry ok. LPTE will chase away the dumb SLDF very soon. SLDF is walking into a trap laid by the mighty tigers... remember...tigers crouch before pouncing on the enemy and taking them down... cheer up!

Unknown said...

Perein
doubt it very much mate.
I heard that SLAF folks are all excited about bagging the first zlin making it the first air to air kill in sri lankan history... :)

perein said...

Ranil-
Mate' during last 2 years we never under estimated the LTTE. That's helped us to suceed todate.
Therefore let's complete the mission.

ConspiracyTheory said...

Bhairav the terrorist from New Jersey, USA,
[It seems you talk from your closet as you underestimate the intelligent agencies like RAW which is shadow of your every move and its moles are everywhere like of TMVP, EPDP and even the SLA hierarchy itself]

You think Indian RAW is such advanced?. How come two of their consecutive leaders killed by terrorist outfits? Terrorist were even in prime minister's body guard. Can you give any other country in the world where two of there leaders killed by terrorist? Not even in Sri Lanka.

Unknown said...

Guys guys,
The fight is not over. Don't make merry till the cows come home. We need to keep our focus.

Unknown said...

However I remeber a certain remark, a threat if you prefer that MR made when the LTTE started hostilities a few weeks after he was elected.

He said to Virtual Pillai "Don't think that we are bearing all this because we are weak"

Man has he proven what he said or not even at this stage!

Bhairav said...

[There is a famous Pullayar/Ganesha Kovil at Murugandi.]

DW,

It is "Pillaiyar", not Pullayar.

LKDOOD said...

Good news

DW

thanks for the update

Kithul said...

DW

isn't pooneryn within artillery range even now from Jafna front?

LKDOOD said...

yes

pooneryn is in range from Jaffna

NOLTTE=Peace said...

"Fear of arrest haunts Matale Tamils
[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 August 2008, 11:03 GMT]
Tension and fear prevail among upcountry Tamil residents in Matale district in the central province due to the daily cordon and search operations being conducted by Sri Lanka Police from Monday, sources in Matale said. Police have arrested several Tamil youths and are interrogating the detained youths on suspicion that the youths have links to Liberation Tigers. "
http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=26646

The above article really sounds like LTTE has invested heavily in Matale/Ukuwela area and now want to prevent their investment being captured.

Over to you TID. Heard the rats.

Kithul said...

anyone heard from mataraaiya, not been around for a long time

miss his insight on both DN and DW

thiru said...

ahhh nuthing like a bunch of over zelous singhalese boyz before getting their asses raped, i remember a time when i was walking down near galle and i saw a little singhalese boy, about 8 or 9 years old getting sold to a german tourist and the look on his face was parrallel to the enlightenment of Budha, little did the boy realize that his ass was gonna get torn apart by those germans that night, sooo perein and fakes remember this story when the time comes for ur "bravehearts" to get their asses raped. Remember this, they are in too far to run back.

NOLTTE=Peace said...

The final weapon in LTTE is unleashed by the LTTE payrolled terrorists of BBC Sinhala and Tamil Service,

Read these two articles; carefully orchestrated to serve the LTTE agenda,

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7560052.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7558467.stm

What I heard was once Ethirajan Anbarasan of BBC came to Sri Lanka and underwent weapons training in Killinochchi.

It is time for Sri Lankans in the UK to protest against for BBC Sinhala and Tamil Service carrying out LTTE agenda.

When SLDF launched the humanitarian mission of liberating the East, these LTTE goons in BBC shouted in the same manner making mountains out of mole-hills.

Now they are doing the same again.

Over to you friends in the UK.

Sun Tzu's disciple said...

" As I say LTTE needs to wait till the end of the year. Obama, BJP and the economic problems will change the world in the next few years."

navindran,
I used to think on those lines when SLA was stuck for ages in Adampan. However, at the present rate, I suspect Ltte will be just a ragtag bunch by ' end of the year' and hence of no concern to Obama or BJP?
If VP turns this war around then he would truly be an unparalelled genius of contemporary times.But by the looks of it, Fonseka will get his way.
We shall wait and see. Meanwhile lets hope civilians are kept safe by both sides.

Charles said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Charles said...

We need to keep LTTE guessing on next military move.

Srilanka FREE SMS

mulathiev TARZEN said...

thalivarr kill tamils by sending podiyance to fight with sl-army!!

Rajaratasurfer said...

Dewire...good post mate....can you ID the AFV in the defence dept video(lower video) 8/14 from Mannar ? SLA armour advancing through the field we see chinese APC ,3 T 55's & what looks like a BMP 1 or 3 ? Can ya clarifiy mates ?

TropicalStorm said...

STD

You are correct.

If any of this lasts until year end, by then it will be almost like a mass hostage crisis, rather than a shooting war. The yahoos being ass-hauled from all over to become cannon-fodder/human-shields will be tightly held to prevent the last bastions from falling.

That should be interesting, because among those people, there will be thousnds of LTTE members' parents. The dynamics of that situation would be fraught with plenty of danger for the LTTE decision makers and specillay the guys tasked with keeping the rank and file in line.

In Mallavi, the LTTE apparently lost 8 very senior 'commanders'. All labeled 'Lt.Col' post-humously, as if that's going to give the family a life long pension. These poor fux eat only because the SLG feeds them while the monkeys are even taking that away from them.

Moshe Dyan said...

thanks DW for the update.

poonaryn came within SLA arti range a dew weeks back. but SLA didn't fire any arti TO poonaryn from the south.

i metioned then that SLA won't fire arti for over 20km TO poonaryn contrary to popular belief. now i think even >15km seems unlikely.

we knew the human shield crisis will bite us. even GR admitted to the fact that we have chased tigers into the jungles. but the killing rate was higher than previous op.s. nevermind, now we should consider how to carry out surgical op.s

is there anyway to provoke tigers to attack the SLA?

Unknown said...

http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=26649
SLA corporal shoots dead 2 soldiers in Batticaloa

I do not know if tamilnet has shot itself in the back by publishing this. Yes a soldier should not kill fellow soldiers. However if he protected a tamil women at the expense of two rouge soldiers, then he should be pardoned. Hence yes there are bad apples but then there are sinhalese soldiers who also will not stand for this. However I am assuming this is a true story.

Unknown said...

thambala said...
Navindran,
You were wrong about Sinhala Koti weren't you? Are you big enough to admit it?

Thambala, i am not too sure what i referred too and in what refrence you are saying. If I am wrong, I am wrong. However I do not know what you were refering too.

Bhairav said...

SLA corporal shoots dead 2 soldiers in Batticaloa
[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 August 2008, 18:03 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Army (SLA) corporal shot and killed two of his troopers who were harassing a Tamil woman at Maavadiveampu in Ea'raavoor police division Thursday around 4:30 p.m. The soldiers were shot after a stand off with their corporal, residents said.

There were repeated complains on the conduct of the soldiers while they were engaged in road clearing patrol.

The SLA soldiers killed were identified as Asala Thilakaratne, 24 and Vimala Srikumara, 23.

The corporal has been arrested by Eravoor police.

The episode took place near the Sivan temple in Maavadiveampu.


Few good men still exist!

Moshe Dyan said...

TN crap article on a corporal shooting another 2..

this is complete bullshit. first of all SLA was not harassing (or caressing) a woman, to hell with her ethnciicty as we don't care about the race of individuals.

killing fellow soldiers is not a good thing it is cowardice and illegal.

it was a checkpoint and only routine checks were performed.

TN pretends that this is the BIGGEST newsworthy incident that happened in the north-east!!!

how about those fierce battles raging in vanni? the four airstrikes yesterday? its hundreds of casualties?

getting some relief of the concocted incident shows how damn desperate you are.

get real guys. there were many times more deaths in the LTTE camp yesterday than 2!!!! there will be even more!

TropicalStorm said...

Even if it was true, it still is ok.

It is good to see someone upholding the rights and dignity of the civillians in areas of military operations. There are unacceptable levels of conduct for a military person which can result in long term imprisonment and severe punishment.

If the two soldiers did actualy molest or attempt to molest a civillian and were shot after due warning, it is ok.

Unknown said...

A Sri Lankan defence news from daily and weeekend newspapers

http://lkdefencecolumns.blogspot.com/

NOLTTE=Peace said...

Tropical Storm,

My sources also tells that Girl Harassing story is bulls-shit.

However, even if they had harassed a girl, there are established procedures in the Army to deal with such occurrences.

The Corporal in question should have followed the established procedure than shooting two fellow soldiers.

I know that individuals have been punished for similar reasons.

My sources tells that the incident has happened owing to an (alleged) bullying incident, and has nothing to do with a girl.

Bhairav said...

[My sources tells that the incident has happened owing to an (alleged) bullying incident, and has nothing to do with a girl.]

NoLTTE,

You can not compare bullying with sexual harassment. Well, more or less, every civilian in SLA controlled areas goes through the bullying but sexual harassment is serious crime. May be it is okay for you to follow the legal procedures when your sister or wife or mother molested or raped by bunch of rouge folks. I'm sorry for the woman who married you.

NOLTTE=Peace said...

Bullying incident has nothing to do with a girl.

The other two has bullied this guy or they two had pulled a practical joke to the other.. he go angry and shot at the two who bullied (/or pulled the practical joke) him.

No involvement of a girl.

NOLTTE=Peace said...

Guys read about this fart who came to Sri Lanka to fart on behalf of LTTE,

http://www.asiantribune.com/?q=node/12697

NOLTTE=Peace said...

Can Garreth Evans qualified to be called a 'Terrorist's Hooker' who got 'hooked' trying to 'hoodwink' his own organisation while hooked on LTTE money?

N said...

Hi guys, latest update - there was a late entry for Olympics from Sri Lanka. Guess who, it's the LTTE, it seems (and proven) that they are able to break any short/long distance runs, hurdles, long/high jump swimming world records. But unfortunately they also require a few Sri Lanka SF commandos. That’s the only time the LTTE can run faster than the light and also marathons.

Also I heard that VP has ordered 5000 pairs of latest Addidas running shoes to Killi for their cadres.

Lahiru said...

Hello everyone. DW, defence.lk posted a new vid with the title *A Rescue Mission by SLAF*. What is this incident? Is this the heli rescue of our SF boys that u mentioned in a previous post?

Ruslan said...

Guess it's a rescue mission of a DPU operatives at enemy area.

bhairav said...

In LTTE areas it's a common practice that women get raped by senior cadres. girls wanna have fun sometimes.

this is about Mr. Rajendran talking about Human rights violations.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_63-QH3eqg&feature=user

Srilankan said...

Moshe,
What we need is an effective naval blockade to stop the LTTE cadres from escaping to india.I dont think the LTTE cadres will find a safe heaven in the jungles as the army teams will get them at great sacrifice to the forces.We have to save as many peace loving northern tamils.Eventually when individual families want to tell their harrowing stories we need to have access to both local and foreign newsmedia to make the crooks in tamil BBC look like idiots.Sadly there maybe stories of brutality(historical) by troops as well.Once this is over our next phase of this war will be a media war against the LTTE overseas.

Unknown said...

Guys,
Check this out..

http://www.island.lk/2008/08/15/news20.html

- LTTE building larger wider second runway despite bombings on it

- DPU evacuation missions being flown by SLAF

Unknown said...

"moshe dyan said...

is there anyway to provoke tigers to attack the SLA?"

i guess it's been done at the moment. our lrrp guys are at the work. we will see results in the near future i guess.

Unknown said...

i meant it's being done..

mboi said...

why wud ltte need another runway? r they gonna rent a private jet to evacuate the fat pig?

Moshe Dyan said...

virus alert,

yes, they doing very well. but i prefer an approach where they will be forced to attack us and we can pulverise them. it can reduce civilian casualties with a good harvest.

moshe dyan the israeli DM explained how he did it.

"Along the Syria border there were no farms and no refugee camps — there was only the Syrian army... The kibbutzim saw the good agricultural land ... and they dreamed about it... They didn't even try to hide their greed for the land... We would send a tractor to plow some area where it wasn't possible to do anything, in the demilitarized area, and knew in advance that the Syrians would start to shoot. If they didn't shoot, we would tell the tractor to advance further, until in the end the Syrians would get annoyed and shoot. And then we would use artillery and later the air force also, and that's how it was...The Syrians, on the fourth day of the war, were not a threat to us."

not the same. but something similar where bloody tigers will have to come for an open fight.

Moshe Dyan said...

srilankan,

agree. those should be the plans in that order.

Unknown said...

How about dangling a MBRL?

mboi said...

no way. never put mbrls in danger. btw just watched 'rescue' video. slaf seems to have some excellent helicopter pilots. both mi-24 and bell were flying very close to tree tops. mi-24 provide cover while bell pickup lrrp. they shouldn't hav called it a 'rescue'. more like picking up lrrp from deep inside enemy territory.

Moshe Dyan said...

thambala,

LOL!

mboi,

i don't think it is PRIMARILY for a rescue op. to save the fat pig.

i feared about 6 months ago that bloody tigers MAY have procured a MiG21 fishbed. one russian guy was caught in a a foreign country. he confessed to have supplied various weapons including MiG21s to various terror groups including the LTTE. now there is no evidence to say LTTE GOT A MIG21; someone MAY have got it (if he was not exaggerating).

i used this POSSIBILITY to justify the purchase of MiG29s @ $15M each which is totally stupid and irrelevant to our USUAL needs. F-7s are very good at taking out zlings if required.

Unknown said...

mboi,
Indeed. The Island article I posted today has a mention to what the SLAF is doing with regard to this.

It seems to be more like flying DPU now.

mboi,
We could make a dummy MBRL and dangle it. Coming to think of it we could make dummy's of other important assests and confuse the enemy. What do you think? Lame?

Unknown said...

Moshe I was expecting some analysis on the second runway..

Anyway let me put my ideas across..

1. Is the LTTE trying to launch an aircraft or are they planning to land one for some purpose?

2. Could it be just a distraction to keep SLAF preoccupied? And waste expensive bombs?

3. Is the LTTE planning to launch a number of zlins at the same time thereby confusing the SLAF? Hence the wider and longer runway?

4. Does this present a viable use for zeppelins? A few could be stationed 24X7 and with some lethal weapons to shoot down any birds.

Unknown said...

We seriously must get some zeppelins and do some experiments with them!

Nishanthe said...

The latest "economist" bark.

http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11921197&mode=comment&intent=readBottom

But the problem is there are people who believes the article than who are'nt. See the comments. Its well organized (or else well committed) tiger propaganda, and unfortunately there is not a single comment to counter it.

Moshe Dyan said...

thambala,

i proposed BALLOONS a long time ago.

if zepplins can do the job, thats fine.

i know what your are trying to resolve. we need 24/7 REAL TIME info. hope MOD will explore avenues of 24/7 REAL TIME info gathering.

Unknown said...

Moshe,
I was thinking of a specifically monitoring the air strips the LTTE has built. Baloons/Zeppelins may be useful for other purposes. But I think this may be a successful use for it.

I was not thinking only of 24X7 real time info only, but, plus proximit to target. If we station baloons/zeps near the air strips we have 24X7 observation plus some early opportunities for attacks. I hope...

mboi said...

how r u supposed to maintain baloons/ zepplins? it only takes one well aimed to bullet to bring them down.

Unknown said...

A bullet has a range doesn't it?

mboi said...

if there is a baloon in the air all they hav to do is empty a few clips of t-56 at it, or a more advanced weapon (like ltte's north korean guns, sniper rifle, elite weapons) will make short work of it.

btw check out this old article from tn, sad however these kids died, but check out rayappu walking hand in hand with ltte thugs and an interesting tamilnet made map which shows that the quickest route to kilinocchi is via mulankavil.

mboi said...

http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=20787

Malin said...

about the balloons..

well i don't know how practical it is but the balloon would have to be kept at least 3km above the ground level. because advanced sniper riffle can reach about 2.5km (Max). Though against gravity the distance will be less. A rocket may be able to reach it, But would it worth the cost?

Another problem with the balloon is how to keep it in fixed place.. 3km above the ground and the wind would be significant so practically i don't think a balloon is feasible idea..

NOLTTE=Peace said...

Since the idea has been around for many years, we may have to look and see whether any other nation use Zeppelins or Baloons to spy on enemy.

Else, we have to utilize proven platforms.
1. Human ground intel
2. Beechcraft like manned aircraft with advanced optics
3. UAVs etc.

My strongest feeling is that we need at least two more Beechcraft
with advance Day and Night Vision, and Radar installed.

In addition, we perhaps buy or develop low-end UAVs with simple giro balanced day and night camera and a GPS installed. These simple UAVs do not need to have long-range, perhaps 3 -4 hour recce at a 20 -30 Km range at any given time is enough. Perhaps, we can sacrifies distance for longer duration i.e. 20Km and 6 hours.

We should have at least 10 of such low-end UAVs at disposal spread across SLDF installations closer to the battle-front.

These UAVs can have parachute deployed landing, and catapult take-offs, so that no runway is needed.

TropicalStorm said...

Nolte

I used to handle a lot of issues for military personnel in a particular job I did in SL.

There were a few cases of apparent assasination by fellow soldiers acting as hitmen against targetted soldiers, where the victims had earlier served as drivers/aides to top military guys and had been suspected of having illicit liason with their wives etc. Reading thru those case records, each of them showed a progression where initially the victim's collegues, team mates give evidence to the attack and then later completely retract them.
Similarly there were a few cases of gang rape by army units, victimizing 'gam batta' guys' (gramarakshaka) wives. In one case a sergeant insisted on giving evidence of a similar incident after seeing too many of them happen, and ended up dead in an 'accident' after being transfered to a jungle location. according to his testimony, certain rogue army units sent the village guards out on a 'recce' and gang raped their wives. The women were told that their men would be killed while out on patrol, if anyone was ever told. The 'gravy train' in these cases worked since when the soldiers did what they did, the corporals knew they could not talk, and so did the sergeants and the line just kept going upwards.

There are skeletons in our cupboards that are very ugly. Similarly with the LTTE's suicide bomber 'training' when the virgins are gang raped and tormented into total submission to the controller.

These are symptoms of a brutalized society and should not be trivialized. The scars of our nation's wounds will last thru the present generation and perhaps even the next.

TropicalStorm said...

Nolte

My understanding is that teh SLA has lready developed and deployed cheap low-end, man portable UAVs sometime ago. The problem was their low endurance, which had been counted in minutes. definitely less than one hour per sortie.

Do not know whether they are in use. Inquiries to a highly placed military person drew a blank. He had less info than I did. Not good.

TropicalStorm said...

Brairav

Sam is not unhappy because she ran away.

...She's come back!!!

TropicalStorm said...

Thambala

SL can afford a geo-stationery orbit satellite, given the expenses we regularly incur. Ours is a small nation and does not need multiple coverage.

Recent media reports say SL is actively seeking regional co-operation in such a venture.

TropicalStorm said...

Does anyone know what happened to the one or more helicopters the LTTE is said to possess?

There was a Mi-24 which disappeared over LTTE held territory and was feared to have been delivered to them by the Russian pilot.

Any of these weapons can be formidable threats when our troop density in the area increases.

However, mobile artillery will continue to be the biggest threat for the foreseeable future.

Moshe Dyan said...

thank you guys, especially nish.

at last there are some pro-SL comments in THE MOST IMPORTANT economic mishap that is going to happen to SL in the economist forum.

keep it up.

bloody tiger sympathisers are trying to put SL in economic trouble and try to extort their MF eelam. fuck them all.

Moshe Dyan said...

malin, thambala, TS,

malin is right about altitude. there are a few problems with balloons (hot air) and zepplins. but they are easy to operate, low cost (a very good quality hot air balloon $50k), reusable, combined with HUMIT, combined with a few weapons, etc.

satelites are a good choice but it cannot happen in a course of weeks/months.

Moshe Dyan said...

noltte,

if we consider additional info gathering on top of what we have and to BE ON TOP OF THE TIGERS ALWAYS, we need different (additional) solutions.

another beechcraft would be very expensive ($5m++) in today's terms and we cannot always rotate them around the clock.

tigers' attacks are swift. they come within the people, dissipate into them again.

to get opportnities to attack them for a BIG harvest comes VERY VERY rarely. but if we have 24/7 intelligence gathering from all sources, we can be always on top of them.

there is a big difference between being always on top of them and intermittant intelligence and info gathering.

the suggestion (subject to practicality) is about that EXTRA bit from where we are now which is low cost, easily multiplied, long lasting and integratable.

TropicalStorm said...

Watching the SLAF video, it is difficult to determine whether the flare dispensation is based on a realistic threat or merely for 'movie' effect.
It all depends on what purpose this video was made, whether for public consumption or real action record keeping.

They seem to know what they are doing and quite good at it. The guys on the ground act as if on vacation, though the injured guy seems real enough.

Where did he get his sarong from? Either the choppers carry spare sarongs, in case anyone feels like calling it a day, or he took it with him thinking he was on vacation...??

TropicalStorm said...

Moshe

Low-end stuff is not easily integratable, since they are stand-alone systems.
Neverthelss if proven to be durable systems, may be worth the cost.
Any that fall into enemy hands will become easily become plug and play devices for them as well.

Jambudipa said...

They generally blow up bridges upon withdrawal. This time however, they chose to remove planks from the bridge and hide them in shrubs. They are running low on explosives and hopefully other military supplies. Indian spy satellites seem to confirm this. Theepan so far has been an utter failure. He chose to go on the offensive. This suits the military perfectly as it is able to do mass harvesting once they break out of defense lines out in the open. Theepan's weakness is he is too aggressive. In the face of dwindling man power and supplies running low, the last thing you want to do is go on the offensive. I guess they are left with no other choice. Did they play the last trump card with Theepan, or is there something else up their sleeve? A crude WMD with biological/chemical agent perhaps? We know they are quite innovative and try new things. A more realistic expectation is the civilian population which can be used as a shield for Veszha Pillaiz. They are looking for a deadly punch somewhere that would bring the military juggernaut to a grinding halt. They did that with hitting KIA last time. They may be also on the hunt for a government or military VVIP which after the sudden demise would demoralize the soldiers. Things like Colombo port or something big in the heart of Colombo, Kandy or Galle could turn things around.

Looking at the FDL, the large area below Mankulam need to be cleared soon. First and foremost it will also take away the risk of them moving down A9 and attacking the Mannar/Vavunia front from the rear. It will also shorten the FDL requiring less man power.. This can be done in 1 of 2 ways. TF2 can toil for weeks taking over bunkers and removing land mines. The other way is to cut off supplies into Mankulam from Kilinochi (A9) and Mullativu (A34). These road stretches are currently in artillery range. Both sides of the A9 highway north of Mankulam are large spans of jungle with no other roads nearby ideal workpad for the lurps. Rangers with GPS can report movements along these roads. Artillery stationed just south of Vavunatakulam lake could take out supplies and LTTE reinforcements on demand.

Achi said...

Anybody have a idea about the gun, guy in the picture holding?It doesn't look like AK47/T56.Too short to be a M16 either..

Defencewire said...

ach,
Its a Commando with a Heckler and Koch SMG. He is personal bodyguard to Brig. Shavendra Silva.

Achi said...

Tnx DW

Unknown said...

About baloons/zeps,

I did a bit of reading. A T 56 will have an effective range of 400 m. And a Standard sniper rifle about 1 km. Also I read a wikipedia article about anti aircraft warfare. According to that it is not easy to shoot down airborne object, may be even relatively static ones unless you have specialised equipment made for these purposes. The altitude makes the job difficult it seems and aiming as well.

So anyway let's keep a 3 km altitudde and a distance of a couple of kilometers from the air strip and move in unpredictable ways around the strip. If say 2 zeps can be deployed at a time we could see how effective this might be. I am speculating but I guess so do the opponents to this idea, but what's the harm in acquiring some of these and experiment in our own territory? This is my main argument.

Moshe Dyan said...

thambala,

i brough the same (or similar) argument after those resear. i'm sure malin also had checked some.

keep up the good work, mate.

MoD offered a good opportunity for SL professionals to get involved in the R&D effort and many submitted their details.

my good friend got a signed letter from GR stating that he will be contacted by the R&D soon. this was 6 weeks ago. nothing so far. i know they are doing a great job but THERE IS A LOT TO DO.

perein said...

Thiru-
Thank you for sharing your Galle experience. I hope you are still holding the Sri Lankan passport then?
:)
We all do have a real mother land called SRI LANKA and we are proud of it. We also doing what ever we can to support the people all around the country.
Therefore can you please share the answers for below 2 questions?

a) May I asked the name of your mother land?
b) Apart from you are helping LTTE to employee child soldiers, do you support kids in up north Sri Lanka with anything?

Adrenaline_Grin said...

That's a great pix, DW. Thanks for the update.

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