Commander of the Army (Sri Lanka)

Commander of the Sri Lanka Army
ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ යුද්ධ හමුදාපති
Incumbent Lieutenant General Vikum Liyanage since 1 June 2022
Sri Lanka Army
Member of	National Security Council
Reports to	Chief of Defence Staff
Residence	General's House, Colombo
Seat	Army Headquarters
Appointer	The President
Term length	Not fixed
Precursor	Commander of the Ceylon Defence Force
Formation	20 October 1949; 75 years ago (1949-10-20) as Commander of the Ceylon Army
First holder	Brigadier Roderick Sinclair (as Commander, Ceylon Army)
Deputy	Chief of Staff of the Army
Website	Official website

The Commander of the Army (Sinhala: ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ යුද්ධ හමුදාපති, romanized: śrī laṁkāvē yuddha hamudāpati) is the title of the professional head of the Sri Lanka Army. The current Commander of the Army is Lt. General Vikum Liyanage.^[1]

The post's precursor was known as Commander of the Ceylon Defence Force.

Serving army commanders have by convention been of the rank of Lieutenant General, promoted to the rank of General on the day of his retirement or after getting the appointment of Chief of Defence Staff. Sepala Attygalle was the first army commander who was promoted to full general on the day of his retirement in 1977. Tissa Weeratunga was the second commander to be promoted to the rank of full general on the day of his retirement in 1985 (after serving as the general officer commanding of the joint operations command).

Sarath Fonseka, Jagath Jayasuriya and Shavendra Silva who were elevated to the rank of General while serving as Commander. Denis Perera and Nalin Seneviratne were promoted to full general in 2007 after 26 years and 19 years of retirement respectively.^[2]

The official residence of the commander is General's House, Colombo.

From Hamilton Wanasinghe (appointed in 1988) customarily all army commanders are lieutenant generals and were later promoted to full general on the day of his retirement or after becoming the g.o.c. of the joint operations command which is currently known as chief of defence staff.

No.	Picture	Commander	Took office	Left office	Time in office	Unit of commission
1		Sinclair, RoderickBrigadier The Earl of Caithness CBE, DSO (1906–1965)	20 October 1949	17 May 1952	2 years, 210 days	Gordon Highlanders
2		Reid, FrancisBrigadier Sir Francis Reid CBE (1900–1970)	18 May 1952	8 February 1955	2 years, 266 days	Royal Artillery
3		Muttukumaru, AntonMajor General Anton Muttukumaru OBE, ED (1908–2001)	9 February 1955	31 December 1959	4 years, 326 days	Ceylon Light Infantry
4		Wijeyekoon, H.Major General H. W. G. Wijeyekoon OBE, ED (1911–1969)	1 January 1960	31 December 1963	3 years, 364 days	Ceylon Light Infantry
5		Udugama, RichardMajor General Deshamanya Richard Udugama MBE (1911–1995)	1 January 1964	10 November 1966	2 years, 313 days	Ceylon Light Infantry
6		Heyn, BertramMajor General Deshabandu Bertram Heyn (1912–1998)	11 November 1966	30 September 1967	323 days	Ceylon Light Infantry
7		Attygalle, SepalaGeneral Deshamanya Sepala Attygalle LVO (1922–2001)	1 October 1967	13 October 1977	10 years, 12 days	Sri Lanka Armoured Corps
8		Perera, DenisGeneral Deshamanya Denis Perera VSV (1930–2013)	14 October 1977	13 October 1981	3 years, 364 days	Sri Lanka Engineers
9		Weeratunga, TissaGeneral Tissa Weeratunga VSV (1930–2003)	14 October 1981	11 February 1985	3 years, 120 days	Gemunu Watch
10		Seneviratne, NalinGeneral Nalin Seneviratne VSV (1931–2009)	12 February 1985	15 August 1988	3 years, 185 days	Sri Lanka Engineers
11		Wanasinghe, HamiltonGeneral Hamilton Wanasinghe VSV (born 1935)	16 August 1988	15 November 1991	3 years, 91 days	Sri Lanka Artillery
12		Waidyaratne, CecilGeneral Cecil Waidyaratne VSV (1938–2001)	16 November 1991	31 December 1993	2 years, 45 days	Sri Lanka Armoured Corps
13		Silva, G.General G. H. De Silva RWP, VSV, USP (born 1940)	1 January 1994	30 April 1996	2 years, 120 days	Gemunu Watch
14		Daluwatte, RohanGeneral Rohan Daluwatte RWP, RSP, VSV, USP (1941–2018)	1 May 1996	15 December 1998	2 years, 228 days	Sri Lanka Armoured Corps
15		Weerasooriya, C.General Srilal Weerasooriya RWP, RSP, VSV, USP (born 1943)	16 December 1998	24 August 2000	1 year, 252 days	Sri Lanka Artillery
16		Balagalle, LionelGeneral Lionel Balagalle RWP, RSP, VSV, USP, VSP (1947–2023)	25 August 2000	30 June 2004	3 years, 310 days	Sri Lanka Artillery
17		Kottegoda, ShanthaGeneral Shantha Kottegoda WWV, RWP, RSP, VSV, USP, VSP (born 1949)	1 July 2004	5 December 2005	1 year, 157 days	Sri Lanka Light Infantry
18		Fonseka, SarathGeneral Sarath Fonseka RWP, RSP, VSV, USP (born 1950)	6 December 2005	15 July 2009	3 years, 221 days	Sri Lanka Sinha Regiment
19		Jayasuriya, JagathGeneral Jagath Jayasuriya VSV, USP	15 July 2009	1 August 2013	4 years, 17 days	Sri Lanka Armoured Corps
20		Ratnayake, DayaGeneral Daya Ratnayake WWV, RWP, RSP, USP (born 1958)	1 August 2013	21 February 2015	1 year, 204 days	Sri Lanka Light Infantry
21		Silva, CrishanthaGeneral Crishantha de Silva RWP, USP	22 February 2015	4 July 2017	2 years, 132 days	Sri Lanka Engineers
22		Senanayake, MaheshGeneral Mahesh Senanayake RWP, RSP, VSV, USP	4 July 2017	19 August 2019	2 years, 46 days	Sri Lanka Engineers
23		Silva, ShavendraGeneral Shavendra Silva WWV, RWP, RSP, VSV, USP (born 1964)	19 August 2019	31 May 2022	2 years, 285 days	Gajaba Regiment
24		Liyanage, VikumLieutenant General Vikum Liyanage RWP, RSP, USP	1 July 2022	Incumbent	2 years, 174 days	Gajaba Regiment

• Former Army commanders
• Three Service Commanders promoted