Air Tigers
The Tamil Eelam Air Force or Sky Tigers (Tamil: வான்புலிகள்) was the air service branch of the Divisions of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, who used it against the Government of Sri Lanka. They also called themselves the Tamileelam Air Force (TAF). Though the existence of the Sky Tigers had been the subject of speculation for many years, the existence of the wing was only revealed after an attack in March 2007, during Eelam War IV. Early reports of the Sky Tigers The LTTE credits the formation of the Sky Tigers air-wing to Vythialingam Sornalingam, known by his ''nom de guerre'' Colonel Shankar, a diploma graduate of Hartley College in Point Pedro. He has an Engineering Diploma in Aeronautics from Hindustan Engineering College in Tamil Nadu, India. On November 27–28, 1998, Tamilnet reported [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Vaithilingam Sornalingam
Vaithilingam Sornalingam (September 1949 – 26 September 2001; , alternative spellings include Vythilingam Sornalingam; often referred to by his ''nom de guerre'' Colonel Shankar) was the founder of the air wing and marine division of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and a relative of the militant group's leader Velupillai Prabhakaran. He was educated in Sri Lanka, and worked for some time in Canada before returning to Sri Lanka and joining the LTTE. Early life Sornalingam was born in September 1949, the second of six sons. He studied at the Tamil Maha Vidyalayam in Vanni and later as a boarding student at Hartley College in Point Pedro, Sri Lanka between 1959 and 1969. While there, he lived in Thamotheram House, and proved himself a talented sportsman, representing the college in cricket and football. He then went on to the Hindustan Institute of Engineering Technology in Chennai, where he studied aeronautical engineering. Some time after completing his stud ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Tamil Eelam
Tamil Eelam (, ''tamiḻ īḻam''; generally rendered outside Tamil-speaking areas as தமிழ் ஈழம்) is a proposed independence, independent sovereign state, state that many Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamils in Sri Lanka and the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora, Eelam Tamil diaspora aspire to create in the north and east of Sri Lanka. Large sections of the North Eastern Province, Sri Lanka, North-East were under ''de facto'' control of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for most of the 1990s–2000s during the Sri Lankan civil war. Tamil Eelam, although encompassing the traditional homelands of Eelam Tamils, does not have official status or diplomatic recognition, recognition by List of sovereign states, world states. The name is derived from the ancient Tamil language, Tamil name for Sri Lanka, Eelam. In 1956, the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK), the most dominant :Tamil political parties in Sri Lanka, Tamil political party in Sri Lanka (then known as Ceylon), lo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Robinson R44
The Robinson R44 is a four-seat light helicopter produced by Robinson Helicopter Company since 1992. Derived from the company's two-seat Robinson R22, the R44 features hydraulically assisted flight controls and a larger engine. It was first flown on 31 March 1990 and received FAA certification in December 1992, with the first delivery in February 1993. The R44 has been the world's best-selling general aviation (GA) helicopter every year since 1999. It is one of the most-produced GA aircraft of the 21st century, with 5,941 deliveries from 2001 to 2020. Design The R44 is a single-engined helicopter with a semi-rigid two-bladed main rotor, a two-bladed tail rotor and a skid landing gear. It has an enclosed cabin with two rows of side-by-side seating for a pilot and three passengers. Tail rotor direction of rotation on the R44 is reversed compared to the R22 for improved yaw control authority. On the R44 the advancing blade is on the bottom. Development Designed during the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
The Sunday Times (Sri Lanka)
''The Sunday Times'' is a weekly Sri Lankan broadsheet initially published by the now defunct Times Group, until 1991, when it was taken over by Wijeya Newspapers. The paper features articles of journalists such as defence columnist Iqbal Athas and Ameen Izzadeen. The daily counterpart of the Sri Lankan ''Sunday Times'' is the ''Daily Mirror''. History The first ''Times'' newspaper, '' Ceylon Times'' was established in 1846. The Times of Ceylon Ltd, which existed for 131 years, was taken over by the Sri Lankan government in 1977. Ranjith Wijewardena, the son of D. R. Wijewardena, and the chairman of Wijeya Newspapers Ltd, purchased the company which was under liquidation, in 1986. However, the newspaper ''The Sunday Times'' came into being in 1991. See also *List of newspapers in Sri Lanka The List of newspapers in Sri Lanka lists every daily and non-daily news publication currently operating in Sri Lanka. The list includes information on whether it is distributed daily or ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Psychological Warfare
Psychological warfare (PSYWAR), or the basic aspects of modern psychological operations (PsyOp), has been known by many other names or terms, including Military Information Support Operations ( MISO), Psy Ops, political warfare, "Hearts and Minds", and propaganda. The term is used "to denote any action which is practiced mainly by psychological methods with the aim of evoking a planned psychological reaction in other people". Various techniques are used, and are aimed at influencing a target audience's value system, belief system, emotions, motives, reasoning, or behavior. It is used to induce confessions or reinforce attitudes and behaviors favorable to the originator's objectives, and are sometimes combined with black operations or false flag tactics. It is also used to destroy the morale of enemies through tactics that aim to depress troops' psychological states. Target audiences can be governments, organizations, groups, and individuals, and is not just limited to s ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Sri Lankan Navy
The Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) (; ) is the navy, naval arm of the Sri Lanka Armed Forces and is classed as the country's most vital defence force due to its island geography. It is responsible for the maritime defence of the Sri Lankan nation and its interests. The role of the Sri Lanka Navy is to conduct operations at sea for the defence of the nation and its interests and conduct prompt and sustainable combat operations at sea in accordance with the national policies. Sri Lanka, situated in the middle of major sea lanes passing through the Indian Ocean, was always a magnet for seafarers and has a long history of naval campaigns. The current Sri Lankan Navy was established on 9 December 1950 when the Navy Act was passed for the formation of the Royal Ceylon Navy. The roots of the modern Sri Lankan Navy date back to 1937 when the Ceylon Naval Volunteer Force was established, which was renamed and absorbed into the Royal Navy as the Ceylon Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve during World War ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Jaffna
Jaffna (, ; , ) is the capital city of the Northern Province, Sri Lanka, Northern Province of Sri Lanka. It is the administrative headquarters of the Jaffna District located on a Jaffna Peninsula, peninsula of the same name. With a population of 88,138 in 2012, Jaffna is Sri Lanka's 12th List of cities in Sri Lanka, most populous city. Jaffna is approximately from Kandarodai which served as an Marketplace, emporium in the Jaffna peninsula from classical antiquity. Jaffna's suburb Nallur, Jaffna, Nallur served as the capital of the four-century-long medieval Tamil Jaffna Kingdom. Prior to the Sri Lankan civil war, Sri Lankan Civil War, it was Sri Lanka's second most populous city after Colombo. The 1980s insurgent uprising led to extensive damage, expulsion of part of the population, and military occupation. Since the end of civil war in 2009, refugees and internally displaced people began returning to homes, while government and private sector reconstruction started taking plac ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
TamilNet
TamilNet is an online newspaper that provides news and feature articles on current affairs in Sri Lanka, specifically related to the erstwhile Sri Lankan Civil War. The website was formed by members of the Sri Lankan Tamil community residing in the United States and publishes articles in English, German and French. It is Tamil nationalist and is described as a pro LTTE website. Tamilnet and non-governmental organizations such as Free Media Movement (FMM), Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and ARTICLE 19 confirm that the website is currently banned in Sri Lanka. Operations TamilNet was founded in 1995 by a group of Tamil diaspora professionals, including computer programmer K. Jayachandran from Norway, a systems analyst from the UK and several “dotcom” entrepreneurs from the United States to counter what they thought was a biased Western press coverage of the Sri Lankan conflict. In 1996 the journalist Dharmeratnam Sivaram was invited by the group to reform their w ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since 2023; and, since its independence in 1947, the world's most populous democracy. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast, it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west; China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north; and Bangladesh and Myanmar to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is near Sri Lanka and the Maldives; its Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Thailand, Myanmar, and Indonesia. Modern humans arrived on the Indian subcontinent from Africa no later than 55,000 years ago., "Y-Chromosome and Mt-DNA data support the colonization of South Asia by modern humans originating in Africa. ... Coalescence dates for most non-European populations averag ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India by population, sixth largest by population, Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, who speak the Tamil language—the state's official language and one of the longest surviving Classical languages of India, classical languages of the world. The capital and largest city is Chennai. Located on the south-eastern coast of the Indian peninsula, Tamil Nadu is straddled by the Western Ghats and Deccan Plateau in the west, the Eastern Ghats in the north, the Eastern Coastal Plains lining the Bay of Bengal in the east, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait to the south-east, the Laccadive Sea at the southern Cape (geography), cape of the peninsula, with the river Kaveri bisecting the state. Politically, Tamil Nadu is bound by the Indian sta ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |