Indian radar system disappoints Lanka Air Force

Colombo, Mar 28: Initial investigations into the maiden air strike by the ''Air Tigers'' on the Sri Lankan Air Force base at Katunayake on Monday, has revealed that the radar installed by India failed to detect the incoming LTTE air craft in time and thus helped the rebels carry out the attack, a local media report here said.

''Initial investigation revealed that the first generation radar installed by India failed to detect the incoming aircraft until the radar at the adjacent Bandaranaike International Airport identified them,'' a local English daily, The Island, reported here today.

For the first time in the decades long history of the bloody ethnic conflict two light wing air craft of the LTTE carried out an air strike on the Sri Lankan Air Force base at Katunayake, where Israeli-built Kfir and Russian-built MiG-27 aircraft were parked, and safely returned to the hideouts in the rebel-held Wanni region, flying more than 400 km both ways.

''Had the Sri Lankan Air Force radar spotted the intruders, the outcome of Monday's encounter would have been different,'' a senior defence official has been quoted as saying.

''Although three of the four radars promised by India are in place, there are believed to be operational problems,'' the report said, adding that India installed the radar network during the tenure of former President Chandrika Kumaratunga.

According to the media report, the government discussing the ways and means of meeting new threat by the Air Tigers, has raised the issue with the Indian High Commission here in Colombo on Monday and believed to have explained the urgent need to fully activate the existing system.

Meanwhile, the government has set up a fresh hotline ''116'' and urged the people to give information to track down the Air Tigers.

Speaking to local media here, President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who is also the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, said defence authorities were in the process of addressing the possible lapses in the air defence system.

The President has also expressed confidence that the security forces wound meet any future LTTE air attack.

UNI