Air Chief Marshal Air chief marshal (Air Chf Mshl or ACM) is a high-ranking air officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many Commonwealth of Nations, countries that have historical British i ...

Sudarshana Karagoda Pathirana WWV, RSP & four Bars, VSV, USP is a former senior

Sri Lanka Air Force The Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF; ; ) is the air force, air arm and the youngest of the Sri Lanka Armed Forces. It was founded in 1951 as the Royal Ceylon Air Force (RCyAF) with the assistance of the Royal Air Force (RAF). The SLAF played a major r ...

officer An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," fro ...

, who had served as the Commander of the Sri Lanka Air Force.

Early life

Born on 30 December 1965, Sudarshana Pathirana was educated at

Dharmaraja College, Kandy Dharmaraja College (), founded in 1887, is a boys' school in Kandy, Sri Lanka. It is a Buddhist school with around 300+ teaching staff and over 4,000+ students. A land area of is owned by the school spreading over half of the Dharmaraja hill ...

Air force career

Having joined the

as an Officer Cadet on the 2nd of July 1985, he completed his Basic Ground Training at Diyatalawa, securing the award for the Best Cadet of the 14th Officer Cadets Course. Pathirana was among a batch of pilots who were sent to the

Pakistan Air Force Academy The Pakistan Air Force Academy Asghar Khan (PAFAA) is an accredited four-year military academy which provides undergraduate education to officer candidates of the Pakistan Armed Forces, primarily the Pakistan Air Force (PAF).Shaheen Foundati ...

in Risalpur for advanced flying training, where he won the award for the "Best Allied Flight Cadet" from the PAF. Pathirana was commissioned in the rank of Pilot Officer on 2 January 1987 at the

, Risalpur, Pakistan.

Flying

Initially commencing his career in the Sri Lanka Air Force as a Reconnaissance pilot, he subsequently transited to Light Transport flying prior to moving into fast jets as a member of the first batch of pilots to fly supersonic aircraft in Sri Lanka. He commanded No 5 Fighter Squadron and subsequently No 10 Fighter Squadron flying the Kfir C 2 / C 7 extensively. Pathirana is a qualified flying instructor and a flying examiner. In addition to Kfir and F-7 fighters he is qualified in over 10 types of aircraft earning him over 3,500 flying hours. In addition, he holds a Commercial Pilots License and is a Flying Examiner for the

Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka The Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka (CAASL) ( Sinhala: සිවිල් ගුවන්සේවා අධිකාරිය ''Sivil Guwanseva Adhikariya'') oversees the government approval and regulation of civil aviation matters for the na ...

. Pathirana followed his Junior Command and Staff Course at the Command and Staff and Training Institute, Bangladesh. In 1995, he became the first Sri Lankan pilot to complete the All-Purpose Qualified Flying Instructors Course in India. In 2002, he became the first Sri Lankan Air Force Officer to obtain the master's degree in Operational Art and Science from the Air University United States Air Force,

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

in US. He pursued his second master's degree after completing master's degree (Defence Studies) in Management from the

General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University (KDU) ( Sinhala: ජෙනරාල් ශ්‍රිමත් ජෝන් කොතලාවල ආරක්ෂක විශ්ව විද්‍යාලය ''General Sir John Kotelawala'' ''Ar ...

. He also served in as the first Defense Attaché at the Sri Lankan Embassy in Russia from 2007 to 2009. During his stint as defense attache in Russia, he obtained a diploma in the field of air field management from the University of Ukraine. He also served as the deputy military liaison officer at the

Ministry of Defense A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divided ...

for a short stint between 2009 and 2011. In January 2011, he attended the National Defense College gaining ndc qualification. He was also awarded the Master in Philosophy from the University of Chennai in 2012.

Command

Pathirana later went on to command three Air Bases, which includes a tenure as the Commandant of the Air Force Academy. He was appointed to the Air Force Board of Management in 2017 as the Director Air Operations prior to being appointed as the Commander, he served as the Chief of Staff from 2019 onwards.

Commander of the Sri Lanka Air Force

On 2 November 2020, he was appointed as the 18th Commander of the Air Force by President

Gotabaya Rajapaksa Nandasena Gotabaya Rajapaksa, (; ; born 20 June 1949) was a Sri Lankan politician and military officer who served as the eighth President of Sri Lanka from 18 November 2019 until his Resignation of Gotabaya Rajapaksa, resignation on 14 July 202 ...

and was also promoted to the three star rank of Air Marshal. He replaced

Sumangala Dias who retired. He went into retirement on 29 June, 2023.

Awards

Pathirana has been awarded with the “

Vishista Seva Vibhushanaya The Vishista Seva Vibhushanaya (VSV, Distinguished Service Order) ( Sinhala: විශිෂ්ට සේවා විභූෂණය ''viṣiṣta sēvā vibhūṣaṇaya'') is awarded to senior officers of the Military of Sri Lanka in recognit ...

” and the “ Uththama Seva Padakkama”. For his contribution during the humanitarian operations, Pathirana has awarded with gallantry medals on 8 occasions. Namely, “

Weera Wickrama Vibhushanaya The Weera Wickrama Vibhushanaya (WWV, Order of Conspicuous Gallantry) ( Sinhala: වීර වික්‍රම විභූෂණය ''vīra vickrama vibhūṣaṇaya'') is the third-highest military decoration awarded by the Military of Sri ...

” twice, “

Rana Wickrama Padakkama The Rana Wickrama Padakkama (RWP, Combat Gallantry Medal) (Sinhala language, Sinhala: රණ වික්‍රම පදක්කම) is awarded to Sri Lankan military service personnel serving in both the regular- and volunteer forces as a rew ...

” twice, and “

Rana Sura Padakkama Rana Sura Padakkama (RSP, Combat Excellence Medal) ( Sinhala: රණ ශූර පදක්කම ''rana śūra padakkama'') is awarded to servicepersons of all ranks of the regular and volunteer forces of the Military of Sri Lanka for individual ...

” on four occasions.

Later work

Air Chief Marshal Pathiran was designated as Sri Lankan Ambassador to Nepal by President

Ranil Wickremesinghe Ranil Wickremesinghe (; ; born 24 March 1949) is a Sri Lankan politician who served as the ninth president of Sri Lanka from 2022 to 2024. He has also served as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka from 1993–1994, 2001–2004, 2015–2018, 2018-2019 a ...

in October 2023.

Personal life

Pathiran is married to Mrs. Charmini Pathirana and the couple is blessed with a daughter and a son namely Bhashini and Vinura Pathirana

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pathirana, Sudarshana 1965 births Living people Ambassadors of Sri Lanka to Nepal Sri Lankan Air Chief Marshals Sri Lankan aviators Sri Lankan expatriates in Pakistan Sinhalese military personnel Alumni of Dharmaraja College Alumni of General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University University of Madras alumni Air University (United States Air Force) alumni National Defence College, India alumni