Sri Lanka Engineers

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Sri Lanka Engineers
Cap badge of the Sri Lanka Engineers
Active	1911 - Present
Country	Sri Lanka
Branch	Sri Lanka Army
Type	Engineering Regiment
Role	Military Engineering, Combat Engineering
Size	6 regular regiments, 1 volunteer regiment
Part of	Engineer Brigade
Regimental Centre	Army Headquarters, Colombo.
Nickname	SLE
Engagements	World War I World War II 1971 Insurrection Insurrection 1987-89 Sri Lankan Civil War
Commanders
Centre Commandant	Col CK Rajapakse
Colonel-Commandant	Maj Gen MCMP Samarasinghe RWP RSP USP psc
Notable commanders	General Denis Perera VSV, ndc, psc, SLE

The Sri Lanka Engineers (SLE) a combat support arms of the Sri Lanka Army which provides combat engineering. It is made up of six regular regiments and one volunteer (reserve) regiments. Headquartered at Sri Lanka Army Headquarters, Colombo.

The Corps provides combat engineering, construction and other technical support to the Sri Lankan Army and civil authorities. One of the objectives of the corps is mobility and counter mobility. That is providing mobility to friendly forces while denying movement to enemy forces. Engineers are able to conduct tasks including penetrating minefields, locating and disarming booby traps, purifying water and building roads and bridges to maintain lines of communications.

1 History
2 Units
- 2.1 Regular Regiments
- 2.2 Volunteer Regiments
3 Equipment
4 Notable members
5 Alliances
6 Order of Precedence
7 See also
8 References
9 External links and sources

[edit] History

The Ceylon Engineers was formed in 1911 as part of the Ceylon Defence Force. Duties of this unit was to the coastal search light and signal works. Buy the time World War II broke out Ceylon Engineers consisted of 4 companies in clouding two fortress companies to man defence lights and engines, one signal company to operate fortress signals and a field company for combat engineering. By 1943 a second signal company was and these formed Ceylon Signals Corps. After the war Ceylon Engineers where disbanded.

With the establishment of the Ceylon Army after independence, 1st Field Squadron was formed in 1951 under the command of Major (later Brigadier) Douglas Ramanayake. This became the core of a new Ceylon Engineers which was formed in 1957, with the regimental headquarters permanently based at the Panagoda Cantonment. A military engineering unit was set up in May 1958 at Konduwattuan Camp in Ampara, this school was moved several times before been located at Thunkama in Embilipitiya where it is today. In 1959 1st Field Engineer Squadron became the 1st Field Engineer Regiment. The Volunteer counterpart of the ‘Sappers', the 4th Development and Construction Engineers Regiment was raised in 1964, replacing 2nd (V) Field/Plant Regiment which was disbanded in 1962 after the attempted military coup that year which involved some of its officers .

In the resent years Corps of Sri Lanka Engineers have been deployed in many parts of the country in support of military operations against terrorists. Since its conception in 1951 the Engineering corps has taken part in many development projects carried out in Sri Lanka by the government and has assisted during natural disasters.