Mig 29

Mig29 Interceptor

A large scale controversy is building up in defence and concerned civillian forums regarding the wisdom or the apparent lack of it in the government's present plans to acquire a fleet of these high end interceptor aircraft from Russia at massive cost of approximately US$15 Million per aircraft.

According to the government, the move to purchase at least five aircraft is a part of an on-going modernization program, while most analysts who realistically asess Sri Lanka's threat scenario are not convinced of the validity of the claims made by the govt. Given the current embarassment arising from the SL Air Force's inability to contain the LTTE's propellor driven Zlin aircraft from carrying out attacks with relative impunity anywhere in Sri Lanka, the acquisition of these Mig29 Fulcrums appear to be more of a knee jerk reaction than anything else even though the government vehemently denies it.

Let's face it, five fulcrums aren't going to stop the Indians if they were to take a fancy to annexing Sri Lanka to use it as a parking space for their excess population...

What we really need are better intelligence gathering, accurate targetting abilities and improved support services for all Sri Lankan defence forces.