The Ceylon Defence Force (CDF) was established in 1910 by the Ceylonese legislation Ceylon Defence Force Ordinance, which reformed the Ceylon Volunteer Force (CVF) that existed previously as the military reserve in the British Crown colony of Ceylon. At the time of forming it was only a reserve force but soon developed into a regular force responsible for the defence of Ceylon. The CDF was under the command of the General Officer Commanding, Ceylon of the British Army in Ceylon if mobilised. However mobilisation could be carried out only under orders from the Governor.
After the outbreak of the Second World War, in the British Crown Colony of Ceylon, the government of Sir Don Baron Jayatilaka assured the British King and his government of its continued support.
The Sri Lanka Army is the oldest and largest of the Sri Lanka Armed Forces. The army was officially established as the Ceylon Army in 1949, though the army traces its roots back in 1881 when Ceylon Light Infantry Volunteers was created; the army was renamed as the 'Sri Lanka Army' when Sri Lanka became a republic in 1972. In 2024, the Army had approximately 150,000 personnel.
The Commando Regiment is the commando formation of the Sri Lanka Army. The unit specializes in various roles including hostage rescue, counter-terrorism, unconventional warfare, special reconnaissance, counter-insurgency, and personnel recovery. It was formed in 1980 and is based in Ganemulla, a suburb of Colombo.
The Corp of Sri Lanka Engineers (SLE) is a combat support arm of the Sri Lanka Army which provides military engineering. It is made up of ten regular regiments and one volunteer regiment. Headquartered at Panagoda Cantonment, it is headed by the Centre Commandant.
The Sri Lanka Signals Corps (SLSC) is a combat support corps of the Sri Lanka Army, responsible for providing military communications, information technology and electronic warfare support. The corps is made up of a signals brigade, ten regular regiments and one volunteer regiment. It is responsible for installing, maintaining and operating all types of telecommunications equipment and information systems. It is headquartered at the Panagoda Cantonment.
The Sri Lanka Light Infantry (SLLI) is the oldest regiment in the Sri Lanka Army and the oldest infantry regiment in the army. It is made up of sixteen regular battalions and nine volunteer battalions, and is headquartered at the Panagoda Cantonment, Panagoda.
The Sri Lanka Sinha Regiment (SLSR) is an infantry regiment of the Sri Lanka Army; it is the second oldest infantry regiment in the army.
The Sri Lanka Army Volunteer Force (SLAVF) is the active-duty volunteer reserve force of the Sri Lanka Army. The SLAVF is separate from the Regular Force which consists of personal who are professional soldiers and its Regular Reserve, which comprises personal who have a mobilization obligation following their service in the regular army. The SLAVF consists of the volunteer force and the volunteer reserve; administration and recruitment of reserve personal is carried out by the Volunteer Force Headquarters in Shalawa, Kosgama which is headed by the Commandant of the Volunteer Force. It has a current strength of about 55,000 personnel. The SLAVF was known as the Ceylon Volunteer Force from 1949 to 1972 and the Sri Lanka Volunteer Force from 1972 to 1985.
The Ceylon Planters Rifle Corps was a regiment of the Ceylon Defence Force, which existed between 1900 and 1949. It was a volunteer (reserve) regiment based in Kandy, made up of only Europeans that were tea and rubber planters of the hills of Sri Lanka. The regiment deployed personnel to fight in the Second Boer War, the First, and Second World Wars.
The Sri Lanka Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (SLEME) (Sinhala: ශ්රී ලංකා විදුලි හා යාන්ත්රික ඉංජිනේරු රෙජිමේන්තුව Shri Lanka Viduli Ha Yanthrika Injineru Rejimentuwa) is a Combat Support corps of the Sri Lanka Army. It is made up of six regular regiments and one volunteer (reserve) regiment. Regiment Center located at Kew Road, Slave Island, Colombo. The present strength of the corps is 200 officers and 5763 other ranks.
The Sri Lanka Corps of Military Police (SLCMP) is the branch of the Sri Lanka Army responsible for the policing of service personnel and providing a military police presence on service property, operations and exercises. It is made up of three regular regiments and with headquartered at Regiment Center Polhengoda, Colombo. Like other military police around the world, they continue to wear white webbing with barrack dress but white gaiters.
The Sri Lanka Army General Service Corps (SLAGSC) a corps of the Sri Lanka Army. The corps carries out much of the administrative work of the army. The role of the Corps is to provide logistic backing to Regular and Volunteer units by performing Financial/ Accounting Services, pay duties, legal services, running of agriculture projects and farms etc. Therefore, it is made up of Accountants, Legal Officers, Agriculture Offices, data processing officers and other ranks specialized in those fields. It is made up of a 3 regular units and 3 volunteer (reserve) units and is headquartered at its Regiment Center at the Panagoda Cantonment, Panagoda.
The Corps of Engineer Services (CES) a regiment of the Sri Lanka Army. The role of the Corps of Engineer Services is to design, construct and maintain all buildings, roads and associated facilities such as electricity, water supply and drainage systems used by the Sri Lanka Army, Apart from this, the Regiment is also responsible for the installation, maintenance and repair of all types of generators, water pumps, sewer pumps, desalination plants and other electrical appliances. It is made up of 6 regular units and 9 volunteer (reserve) units and is headquartered at its Regiment Center at the Panagoda Cantonment, Panagoda.
A pioneer is a soldier employed to perform engineering and construction tasks. The term is in principle similar to sapper or combat engineer. Pioneers were originally part of the artillery branch of European armies. Subsequently, they formed part of the engineering branch, the logistic branch, part of the infantry, or even comprised a branch in their own right.
Ceylon Post and Telegraph Signals Corps was a departmental corps of the Ceylon Defense Force from 1943 to 1945 and of the Ceylon Volunteer Force 1955 to 1956. It was formed in February 1946, from the Post and Telegraph Signals Unit of the Ceylon Engineers Corps. It was disbanded following the disbanding of the Ceylon Defence Force on 11 April 1949 and formation of the Ceylon Army by Army Act No. 17 of 1949 which revoked the Ceylon Defence Force Ordinance of 1910. The corps was reformed in 1955 with staff from the Department of Post and Ceylon Telegraph Department. The government hoped to minimized the effects to the Post and Telegraph services in the event of trade union action by mobilizing the personnel attached to this unit. However it was disbanded in 1956 when the leftist S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike became prime minister.
Brigadier Percy Douglas Ramayanayake was a senior Sri Lanka Army officer who was the founder of the Sri Lanka Engineers. He had served as the Commander, Task Force Anti Illicit Immigration.
14 CBRN Regiment, Sri Lanka Engineers is a regiment of the Sri Lanka Army that focuses on countering chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) hazards in the country. The Sri Lanka Navy and Sri Lanka Air Force also maintain CBRN units in addition to the Army's CBRN regiment. The regiment evolved from the first CBRN squadron that Major General Jagath Gunawardena, the current colonel-commandant of Sri Lanka Engineers, established.
1 Corps is a field corps formation of the Sri Lanka Army. The Corps is headquartered at Kilinochchi in Northern Province. It was raised on 17 October 2021. It was formed with the amalgamation of the Reserve Strike Force, special forces units and the former Security Forces Headquarters - Kilinochchi (SFHQ-KLN) creating the Army's First Strike Corps.
Sri Lanka 
Sri Lanka Army 
