russian occupation forces are conducting joint military drills Path of the Wolverine. The exercises are taking place at the Sri Lankan Army training center, led on the russian side by Major General Andrey Kozlov, and include troops from russia's Eastern Military District.
According to the russian Ministry of Defense, which announced the drills on November 5, these are the first-ever joint exercises between russian and Sri Lankan troops. It's possible Moscow views such cooperation as an opportunity to recruit local manpower for its occupation forces.
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Open-source data, including The Military Balance, shows that Sri Lanka's armed forces number about 265,900 personnel with 177,000 in the army, 60,900 in the navy, and 28,000 in the air force.
Sri Lanka's military equipment is largely Soviet or Chinese-made, though its arsenal also includes a mix of systems from various countries. For example, its tank fleet includes 62 Czech-modified T-55AM2s and several dozen Chinese Type 59s in storage. Infantry fighting vehicles consist of BMP-1s and BMP-2s (over 60 units) and Type 92 (WZ-551) wheeled IFVs (around 80 units), among other Chinese armored transports.
Interestingly, Sri Lanka also produces several domestically made MRAPs, such as the Unicorn (based on the South African Buffel) and its upgraded version, Unibuffel.
The country operates RM-70 multiple rocket launchers from the Czech Republic and Pakistani variants of the BM-21 Grad, while its artillery and mortars are primarily Soviet and Chinese.
Sri Lankas air arm is relatively small but diverse it fields Chengdu J-7 and IAI Kfir fighter jets, along with a variety of helicopters, including Mi-17s and American Bell models.
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