Field marshal is the second most senior military rank, ordinarily senior to the general officer ranks, but junior to the rank of Generalissimo. Usually, it is the highest rank in an army, and as such, few persons are ever appointed to it. It is considered as a five-star rank (OF-10) in modern-day armed forces in many countries. Promotion to the rank of field marshal in many countries historically required extraordinary military achievement by a general. However, the rank has also been used as a divisional command rank and also as a brigade command rank. Examples of the different uses of the rank include Afghanistan, Austria-Hungary, Pakistan, Prussia/Germany, India and Sri Lanka for an extraordinary achievement; Spain and Mexico for a divisional command ; and France, Portugal and Brazil for a brigade command.
A five-star rank is the highest military rank in many countries. The rank is that of the most senior operational military commanders, and within NATO's standard rank scale it is designated by the code OF-10. Not all armed forces have such a rank, and in those that do the actual insignia of the five-star ranks may not contain five stars. For example: the insignia for the French OF-10 rank maréchal de France contains seven stars; the insignia for the Portuguese marechal contains four gold stars. The stars used on the various Commonwealth of Nations rank insignias are sometimes colloquially referred to as pips, but in fact either are stars of the orders of the Garter, Thistle or Bath or are Eversleigh stars, depending on the wearer's original regiment or corps, and are used in combination with other heraldic items, such as batons, crowns, swords or maple leaves.
The Rana Wickrama Padakkama is awarded to Sri Lankan military service personnel serving in both the regular- and volunteer forces as a reward for:
...individual or associated acts of bravery in the face of the enemy and performed voluntarily...
Rana Sura Padakkama is awarded to servicepersons of all ranks of the regular and volunteer forces of the Military of Sri Lanka for individual acts of bravery and otherwise distinguished conduct in the face of the enemy during active deployment. Bars could be awarded for further acts of gallantry meriting the award for a second and third time, denoted by a star in the ribbon bar for each additional award.
Field Marshal Gardihewa Sarath Chandralal Fonseka,, commonly known as Sarath Fonseka, is a retired Sri Lankan army officer and politician. He was the eighteenth Commander of the Sri Lankan Army, and under his command the Sri Lankan Army ended the 26-year Sri Lankan Civil War in 2009, defeating the militant group, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam; he thereafter briefly served as the Chief of Defence Staff. After retiring from the Army with the rank of General, he entered politics as the common opposition candidate in the 2010 presidential election contesting against President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
The ranks and insignia of the Sri Lanka Air Force are the military insignia used by the Sri Lanka Air Force. Upon the formation of the Sri Lanka Air Force in 1951, rank titles and badges for ORs were adopted from the Royal Air Force officer ranks and other ranks. Sri Lanka does have an Air Chief Marshal rank, but it is only awarded to the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) or as an honorary rank; Air Chief Marshal Roshan Goonetileke was the only Sri Lankan Air Force officer to hold the air chief marshal rank while in active service.
The following tables present the ranks and insignia of the Sri Lanka Navy. These ranks are similar to Royal Naval officer ranks and the ratings ranks. Sri Lanka does have an Admiral rank, but it is usually only awarded to the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) or as an honorary rank; Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda was the only Sri Lankan naval officer to hold a full admiral rank while in active service.
The Commander of the Army is the title of the professional head of the Sri Lanka Army. The current Commander of the Army is Lt. General Vikum Liyanage.
Marshal of the Air Force W. D. M. J. Roshan Goonetileke, RWP and bar, VSV, USP is a senior officer of the Sri Lanka Air Force. The current Governor of the Western Province.
Admiral of the Fleet Wasantha Kumar Jayadeva Karannagoda, RSP, VSV, USP, MRIN, MNI is a Sri Lankan naval officer. He served as the Commander of the Sri Lankan Navy during the last phase of the Sri Lankan Civil War and Governor of North Western Province, Sri Lanka from 2021 to 2023.
The Sri Lanka Military Academy, commonly known simply as Diyatalawa, is the oldest military academy in Sri Lanka, and trains commissioned officers for the Sri Lanka Army. It is located in the garrison town of Diyatalawa in the central highlands of Sri Lanka. It has capacity to train more than 300 cadets.
The Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS) is the most senior appointment in the Sri Lankan Armed Forces, and the highest-ranking military officer in service, outranking the heads of each service branch. The CDS does not, however, have operational command authority over service branches, but rather oversees inter-service co-operation and develops and implements the joint operations doctrine of the Sri Lankan armed forces. Coordination of inter-service joint operations are handled by the Office of the Chief of the Defence Staff, formally known as the Joint Operations Headquarters.
General Jagath Jayasuriya, VSV, USP is a retired senior Sri Lanka Army general; he was the Chief of Defence Staff, the head of the Sri Lanka Armed Forces as a Full General from 1 August 2013 to 15 June 2015 and Commander of the Sri Lanka Army, the head of the army as a Lieutenant General from 15 July 2009 to 31 July 2013. During the closing stages of the Sri Lankan Civil War, he served as the Commander Security Forces Headquarters - Wanni with overall command of SLA offensives in the Wanni region during the 2008 - 2009 period. He was also the Sri Lankan Ambassador to Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Peru and Suriname from June 2014 to August 2017.
General is the highest attainable and full general rank of the Sri Lankan Army and was created as a direct equivalent of the British military rank of general; it is also considered a four-star rank.
General Shavendra Silva, is a Sri Lanka Army general who is the current Chief of Defence Staff, the head of the Sri Lanka Armed Forces serving from 1 January 2020. He also served as the Commander of the Sri Lanka Army from 19 August 2019 to 31 May 2022. His other important appointments include, Chief of Staff of the army, Adjutant General and Director of Operations of the Army. During the Sri Lankan civil war he gained fame as the General Officer Commanding of the elite 58 Division. He had also served as the Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations Headquarters.
Lieutenant general is the second-highest rank of the Sri Lanka Army and generally it is the highest active rank as the Sri Lanka army do not have any appointment in the rank of full general but in the case of the appointment of Chief of Defence Staff, the rank of full general is given. It was created as a direct equivalent of the British military rank of lieutenant general, and is considered a three-star rank.
Major General is a senior rank in the Sri Lanka Army, and was created as a direct equivalent of the British military rank of major general. It is the second-highest active rank of the Sri Lanka Army while the Lieutenant General is the highest, and is considered to be equivalent to a two-star rank. A major general commands a division or the equivalent or performs staff duties in army headquarters.
Field marshal (FM) is the five-star rank of the Sri Lanka Army and ranks immediately above general. the rank has been awarded only once, to Sarath Fonseka as an honorary rank. It is equivalent to admiral of the fleet and marshal of the Sri Lanka Air Force.
General N.U.M. Mahesh W. Senanayke, RWP, RSP, VSV, USP is a retired Sri Lankan Army general who served as the Commander of the Sri Lanka Army from 2017 to 2019. Senanayake had previously been the Commander, Security Forces Headquarters – Jaffna, General Officer Commanding, 52 Division and Brigade Commander, Special Forces Brigade. Having started his military career as a military engineer, Senanayake became a special forces officer and is a veteran of all four phases of the Sri Lankan Civil War, he has served in both its Northern and Eastern theaters. Following his retirement, he contested the 2019 Sri Lankan presidential election and came fourth after the three candidates of the three major political parties in the island.
Star Insignia of Army officer vehicles differ from each other starting from one star up until five stars. The first four stars should be granted to an officer in active duty while the fifth Star insignia can be wore by a retired officer. The only retired officer who is permitted to wear the five star insignia in Sri Lanka is Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka.
