Air Vice-Marshal Sudarshana Karagoda Pathirana has been appointed as the 18th Commander of Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF).
The appointment, made by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa will come into effect from the 2nd of November, the SLAF media said.
Pathirana joined the Air Force on the 2nd of July 1985. Upon completion of his Basic Ground Training at SLAF Diyatalawa, he had secured the award for the Best Cadet of the 14th Officer Cadets Intake.
He is a past student of Dharmaraja College in Kandy.
In 2002, he became the first Sri Lankan Air Force Officer to obtain the Masters in Operational Art and Science awarded by the Air University, Alabama in the United States.
Two years later, he successfully completed his 2nd Master’s Degree (Defence Studies) in Management at the General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University.
He also served as the first Defence Attaché at the Embassy of Sri Lanka in the Russian Federation from 2007 to 2009.
He subsequently served at the Ministry of Defence as the Deputy Military Liaison Officer from 2009 to 2011.
AVM Pathirana was appointed as the Director Air Operations in 2017 and he served in this position until being appointed as the Chief of Staff in 2019.
