Roshan Goonatilake

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Roshan Goonatilake
1956 –
Allegiance	Sri Lanka
Service/branch	Sri Lanka Air Force
Years of service	28 years
Rank	Air Marshal
Commands held	Commander of the Sri Lankan Air Force
Battles/wars	Sri Lankan Civil War
Awards	Rana Wickrama Padakkama & BAR, Vishista Seva Vibhushanaya, Uttama Seva Padakkama

Air Marshal Roshan Goonatilake RWP & BAR, VSV, USP, ndc, psc, SLAF was appointed the Commander of the Sri Lankan Air Force effective 12 June 2006. Air Marshal Goonatilake has served in the Sri Lankan Air Force for more than 28 years. He is the elder son of the 5th Commander of the Air Force Air Chief Marshal Harry Goonatilake and his younger brother Air Commodore Shirantha Goonatilake RWP, RSP, SLAF was killed in combat in 1995.^[1]

1 Early life
2 Military career
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Early life

After finishing his studies at St Peter's College, Colombo Goonatilake followed in his father's footsteps and joined the Sri Lanka Air Force as an Officer Cadet in the General Duties Pilot Branch on January 13, 1978. On successful completion of flying training, he was commissioned in the rank of Pilot Officer on August 24, 1979.

[edit] Military career

His early commands included Commanding Officer of No. 03 Maritime Squadron and the Commanding Officer of No. 04 Helicopter Wing. He was also the Zonal Commander Northern Zone and Zonal Commander Eastern Zone. His more senior commands included commander SLAF Katunayake, SLAF Anuradapura and SLAF China Bay, Director of Operations / Deputy Chief of Staff Operations of the Air Force before being appointed as the Chief of Staff.

Goonatilake graduated from the Air Command and Staff College, Air University, Alabama, United States in 1994 and had also attended the National Defence College in Pakistan in 2001.