The Sri Lankan Air Force has purchased two Xian MA 60 passenger aircraft from China, to be used as part of its growing domestic arm, Helitours.
Reportedly purchased from the Chinese under a loan scheme, the aircraft will be used to provide domestic passenger flights across the island.
Earlier this year, the Economist commented on the "creeping militarisation" in the country, in a piece entitled, "Sri Lanka's Army - In bigger barracks".
“A notable omission from the agenda was any initiative to pare back Sri Lanka’s now bloated armed forces. Instead, the government is finding new things for them to do.
Soldiers are taking on the civilian middlemen who control the vegetable trade by selling cheap produce, some of it from military farms. The navy has even opened a vegetable shop near one of its biggest camps in Colombo. The army has an air-ticketing agency. It is building roads and bridges, and houses for the internally displaced. Soldiers built one cricket stadium and renovated another for the World Cup earlier this year.
Restaurants along the highway to Jaffna in the north are mostly army-owned or -run. The army will even supervise the private companies that collect the rubbish in Colombo.”
Read the full report here.
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