Sri Lanka should exploit her wealth of knowledge gained in the war against terrorism for the economic benefits.

The unique experiences and knowledge gained by Sri Lanka fighting against terrorism should effectively be used not only to prevent a threat of terrorism from raising its head again but also to gain economic benefits for her people. As this news item reports Sri Lankan armed forces will start a month long a special Army combat training course to a contingent of Army officers from SAARC countries.  Sri Lanka is perhaps the best country to impart this knowledge as it defeated the most ruthless terrorist outfit in the world. The most of the military strategies used were ingenious and unique to our forces developed by themselves over the years.

Though the move is praiseworthy it should not be done free of charge as unlike conventional military strategies imparted by other countries the knowledge we gained are unique counter terrorism military strategies.  Therefore, we should charge higher course fees as it will be an income to our country. A case in point is Israel which charges higher charges for the military trainings offered to foreign militaries.     

Not confining only to trainings Sri Lanka should embark on manufacturing the weaponry too, which will be a very successful venture as far as Sri Lanka is concerned. A case in point is the manufacturing of Ultra Fast Attack Crafts(FACs) by the Colombo Dockyard Ltd(CDL) with some of its products being exported. These FACs are known as Colombo Class Fast Attack Crafts.

The following introduction about the crafts in naval-technology.com is indeed encouraging   

'Colombo Dockyard Limited (CDL), a Sri Lankan shipbuilder with Japanese collaboration, produces a range of ultra fast, fully customised, aluminium hull patrol / attack craft, which have been battle tested and proven in one of the deadliest terrorist encounters in recent times. CDL has manufactured over 34 such craft for the local / regional navies and coast guards at extremely competitive prices and with unthinkable delivery terms, surpassing other international suppliers.'

At the moment CDL manufactures 07 types of crafts with some of them being exported:

UFAC I: a 24m, mono hull craft powered by twin MTU main engines, each developing 1,630kW, driving KAMEWA water jets.

UFAC II:  A successor to the previous design. The accommodation area was increased to accommodate 12 persons.

UFAC III: the most recent addition, incorporates the latest combat requirements and experience in the battlefield and achieves speeds in excess of 53 knots with a complement of 12 persons.

COASTAL SURVEILLANCE VESSEL (CSV): 24m CSVs were built for Maldivian Coast Guard to carry out patrol missions in the coastal waters of the Republic of Maldives.

FIRE FIGHTING / PATROL VESSEL: A 16m fire fighting vessel is capable of attending to fire incidents with both water and foam, onboard ocean going vessels and in islands within the Republic of Maldives.

FAST LANDING CRAFT: This is a unique design, with the landing craft being able to achieve speeds in excess of 20 knots.

This successful venture too is an outcome of war against the terrorism. Sri Lanka army also started manufacturing Armed Personnel Carries-buffells in 90s. But it is not known whether the production is continued to date.      

Thanks to the terrorism that challenged the countries sovrighnity for years Sri Lankan armed forces became the most ruthlessly efficient counter terrorists forces in the world. Sri Lankan armed forces were basically comprised of mere ceremonial forces at the beginning of the LTTE terrorism with army's strength standing at mere 7000 odd men. The strength of the navy was mere 600 odd men in 1960s with a few aging ships used in WW 11 in the UK and Canada. Fully fledged and battle hardened Sri Lankan armed forces well armed in counter terrorism strategies is envious to most of the powerful armies in the world which are trapped with never ending counter terrorism wars with higher loses both in terms of men and masteries. On the top of all this sorry situation they are faced with have badly been injured their prestige as most sophiscated and powerful militaries in the world. Having observed the most inefficient manner in which Indian security forces fought terrorists involved in the Mumbai attack, one would be compelled to think the manner in which SL forced would have handled the situation had they been given a chance to deal with terrorists.