# Chief of Staff of the Sri Lanka Army

Chief of Staff of the Army (CoSA) has been the title of the second in command of the Sri Lanka Army. The post is held by a regular officer of the rank of major general and is the second senior position in the army. Chief of staff is charged with assisting the Army Commander in both operational and administrative aspects, functioning as the Acting Army Commander in his absences or incantation. Chief of staff is assisted by the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Army.

## History

The post was established in 1949, when Lieutenant Colonel Anton Muttukumaru was appointed as chief of staff to Brigadier the Earl of Caithness, the first Army Commander when the Ceylon Army was formed. The post was thereafter held by one of the senior most officers in the Ceylon Army, usually of the rank of colonel. In 1955, Colonel Gerard Wijeyekoon held the post and served as Acting Army Commander, while Brigadier Muttukumaru attend Imperial Defence College. On his return in 1956 Brigadier Muttukumaru assumed command of the army and Colonel Wijeyekoon was transferred to the newly created post of Commandant of the Volunteer Force which became the second most senior post in the army. Since 1966, it became the third-ranking after that of Army Commander. In the 1970s the post became a Brigadier's posting In the early 1990s the post of Deputy Chief of Staff was created. The post of chief of staff has become a major general's posting since the early 1980s.

## List of chiefs of staff

| No | Chief of Staff | Took office | Left office | Unit of commission | Notes |
| 1 | Lieutenant Colonel Anton Muttukumaru | 10 October 1949 | 31 December 1953 | Ceylon Light Infantry | Later Lieutenant ColonelAnton Muttukumaru was appointed as 3rd Commander of the Army and promoted to Major General. |
| 2 | Lieutenant Colonel H.W.G. Wijeyekoon | 1 January 1954 | 09 February 1955 | Ceylon Light Infantry | Later Lieutenant Colonel H. W. G. Wijeyekoon was appointed as 4th Commander of the Army and promoted to Major General. |
| 3 | Colonel Maurice de Mel | 10 February 1955 | 13 November 1959 | Ceylon Garrison Artillery | |
| 4 | Colonel Bertram Heyn | 13 November 1959 | 1 December 1962 | Ceylon Light Infantry | Later Colonel Bertram Heyn was appointed as 6th Commander of the Army and promoted to Brigadier. Later he was promoted to Major General. |
| 5 | Colonel Richard Udugama | 1 December 1962 | 14 November 1963 | Ceylon Light Infantry | Later Colonel Richard Udugama was appointed as 5th Commander of the Army and promoted to Brigadier. He was later promoted to the rank of Major General. |
| 6 | Colonel Sepala Attygalle | 21 March 1964 | 22 September 1967 | Ceylon Light Infantry | Later Colonel Sepala Attygalle was appointed as 7th Commander of the Army and promoted to General on his retirement. |
| 7 | Colonel P. D. Ramayanayake | 26 March 1966 | 5 January 1967 | Ceylon Engineers | Officiated while Colonel Sepala Attygalle following his Imperial Defence College course in London. |
| 8 | Brigadier M. A. Jayaweera | 1 February 1969 | 1 February 1974 | Ceylon Light Infantry | |
| 9 | Brigadier E. T. De Z Abeysekera | 1 February 1974 | 3 May 1976 | Ceylon Light Infantry | |
| 10 | Brigadier C. T. Caldera | 3 May 1976 | 1 April 1977 | Ceylon Light Infantry | |
| 11 | Brigadier Denis Perera | 5 August 1977 | 13 October 1977 | Ceylon Engineers | Later Brigadier Denis Perera was appointed as 8th Commander of the Army and promoted to Major General. On his retirement he was promoted to Lieutenant General. In 2007 he was promoted to General. |
| 12 | Brigadier T. S. B. Sally | 1 December 1977 | 15 March 1979 | Ceylon Light Infantry | On two occasions (18 February 1978 and 16 October 1978) Brig Sally was acting Commander of the Army when the Commander was overseas on assignments. He was the last officer from the Ceylon Defence Force to leave active service. |
| 13 | Brigadier Tissa Weerathunga | 18 March 1979 | 14 October 1981 | Ceylon Light Infantry | Later Brigadier Tissa Weerathunga was appointed as 9th Commander of the Army and promoted to Major General. On his retirement he was promoted to Lieutenant General and appointed as first General Officer Commanding of the Joint Operation Command. |
| 14 | Brigadier Cyril Ranatunga | 15 February 1982 | 4 February 1983 | Ceylon Light Infantry | He retired as COS and later was recalled from retirement in September 1985 and promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General, to serve as the General Officer Commanding, Joint Operations Command (JOC). |
| 15 | Brigadier Mano Madawela | 18 August 1983 | 24 September 1986 | Gemunu Watch | After Brigadier Cyril Ranatunga's retirement, post of Chief of Staff was vacant for around 8 months before Brigadier Mano Madawala's appointment. |
| 16 | Brigadier E. G. Thevanayagam | 1 October 1986 | 10 January 1987 | Ceylon Light Infantry | |
| 17 | Brigadier J. G. Balthazar | 10 January 1987 | 5 December 1987 | Ceylon Light Infantry | |
| 18 | Major General C. A. M. N. Silva | 15 December 1987 | 4 July 1988 | Ceylon Light Infantry | |
| 19 | Major General Hamilton Wanasinghe | 15 July 1988 | 16 August 1988 | Ceylon Artillery | Later Major General Hamilton Wanasinghe was appointed as 11th Commander of the Army and promoted to Lieutenant General. On his retirement he was promoted to General and appointed as the general officer commanding (GOC) of the Joint Operations Headquarters (JOH) serving from 1991 to 1993. |
| 20 | Major General S.M.A. Jayawardena | 16 August 1988 | 18 March 1989 | Ceylon Light Infantry | |
| 21 | Major General Cecil Waidyaratne | 23 March 1989 | 16 November 1991 | Ceylon Armoured Corps | Later Major General Cecil Waidyaratne was appointed as 12th Commander of the Army and promoted to Lieutenant General. On his retirement he was promoted to General. |
| 22 | Major General J. R. S de Silva | 16 November 1991 | 10 June 1992 | Ceylon Engineers | |
| 23 | Major General Y. Balaretnarajah | 10 June 1992 | 30 September 1992 | Ceylon Armoured Corps | |
| 24 | Major General G. H. de Silva | 23 October 1992 | 1 January 1994 | Ceylon Sinha Regiment | Later Major General G. H. De Silva was appointed as 13th Commander of the Army and promoted to Lieutenant General. On his retirement he was promoted to General. |
| 25 | Major General Lakshman Algama | 1 January 1994 | 2 April 1995 | Gemunu Watch | |
| 26 | Major General Rohan Daluwatte | 2 June 1995 | 1 May 1996 | Ceylon Armoured Corps | Later Major General Rohan Daluwatte was appointed as 14th Commander of the Army and promoted to Lieutenant General. On his retirement he was promoted to General. After his retirement, he was appointed Chairman of the newly created Joint Operations Bureau, however he was reinstated to active service with the formation of the post of Chief of Defence Staff. |
| 27 | Major General A.M.U. Seneviratne | 1 May 1996 | 10 December 1996 | Ceylon Light Infantry | |
| 28 | Major General H.S. Hapuarachchi | 11 December 1996 | 22 February 1998 | Ceylon Sinha Regiment | |
| 29 | Major General Srilal Weerasooriya | 23 February 1998 | 16 December 1998 | Ceylon Artillery | Later Major General Srilal Weerasooriya was appointed as 15th Commander of the Army and promoted to Lieutenant General. On his retirement he was promoted to General. |
| 30 | Major General Patrick Fernando | 16 December 1998 | 2 April 1999 | Gemunu Watch | |
| 31 | Major General Lionel Balagalle | 2 April 1999 | 24 August 2000 | Ceylon Artillery | Later Major General Lionel Balagalle was appointed as 16th Commander of the Army and promoted to Lieutenant General. On 10 October 2003, he was appointed as Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS) as serving army commander. |
| 32 | Major General Janaka Perera | 15 June 2000 | 31 January 2001 | Ceylon Engineers | |
| 33 | Major General Neil Dias | 1 February 2001 | 13 April 2002 | Ceylon Armoured Corps | |
| 34 | Major General Lohan Gunawardena | 13 April 2002 | 22 November 2003 | Gemunu Watch | |
| 35 | Major General Shantha Kottegoda | 23 November 2003 | 30 June 2004 | Ceylon Light Infantry | Later Major General Shantha Kottegoda was appointed as 17th Commander of the Army and promoted to Lieutenant General. On his retirement he was promoted to General. |
| 36 | Major General Chula Seneviratne | 1 July 2004 | 9 December 2004 | Ceylon Signals Corps | |
| 37 | Major General Sarath Fonseka | 9 December 2004 | 6 December 2005 | Ceylon Sinha Regiment | Later Major General Sarath Fonseka was appointed as 18th Commander of the Army and promoted to Lieutenant General. At the end of the war he was promoted to General, becoming the first army commander to hold a full General rank. On 15 July 2009 he was the first person appointed CDS under the newly approved Chief of Defence Staff Act. On On 22 March 2015, he was promoted to Field Marshal. |
| 38 | Major General Nanda Mallawaarachchi | 6 December 2005 | 3 February 2007 | Sri Lanka Light Infantry | |
| 39 | Major General U.B.L. Fernando | 3 February 2007 | 5 February 2008 | Gajaba Regiment | |
| 40 | Major General N Wijesinghe | 5 February 2008 | 2 March 2009 | Sri Lanka Artillery | |
| 41 | Major General G.A. Chandrasiri | 1 March 2009 | 12 July 2009 | Sri Lanka Armoured Corps | |
| 42 | Major General Mendaka Samarasinghe | 24 July 2009 | 29 January 2010 | Sri Lanka Engineers | |
| 43 | Major General Daya Ratnayake | January 2010 | 30 July 2013 | Sri Lanka Light Infantry | Later Major General Daya Ratnayake was appointed as 20th Commander of the Army and promoted to Lieutenant General. On his retirement he was promoted to General. |
| 44 | Major General A.W.J.C. De Silva | 5 September 2013 | 16 June 2014 | Sri Lanka Engineers | Later Major General Crishantha de Silva was appointed as 21st Commander of the Army and promoted to Lieutenant General. In June 2017 he was promoted to General and appointed as Chief of Defence Staff. |
| 45 | Major General Prasad Samarasinghe | 17 May 2014 | 6 May 2015 | Sri Lanka Signals Corps | |
| 46 | Major General Jagath Dias | 7 May 2015 | 26 December 2015 | Vijayabahu Infantry Regiment | |
| 47 | Major General Milinda Peiris | 12 February 2016 | 11 August 2016 | Sri Lanka Armoured Corps | |
| 48 | Major General Ubaya Madawela | 1 November 2016 | 2 December 2016 | Sri Lanka Armoured Corps | |
| 49 | Major General Channa Gunathilaka | 14 December 2016 | March 2017 | Sri Lanka Engineers | |
| 50 | Major General Mahesh Senanayake | 22 March 2017 | 3 July 2017 | Sri Lanka Engineers | Later Major General Mahesh Senanayake was appointed as 22nd Commander of the Army and promoted to Lieutenant General. On his retirement he was promoted to General. |
| 51 | Major General Amal Karunasekara | 22 July 2017 | 13 March 2018 | Sri Lanka Light Infantry | |
| 52 | Major General Dampath Fernando | 27 April 2018 | December 2018 | Gemunu Watch | |
| 53 | Major General Shavendra Silva | 9 January 2019 | 18 August 2019 | Gajaba Regiment | Later Major General Shavendra Silva was appointed as 23rd Commander of the Army and promoted to Lieutenant General. In January 2020, General Silva was appointed as Acting Chief of Defence Staff, while serving as Army Commander. He was promoted to the rank of General on 28 December 2020. On his retirement on 1 June 2022, he was confirmed as Chief of Defence Staff. |
| 54 | Major General Sathyapriya Liyanage | 23 August 2019 | 1 June 2020 | Sri Lanka Armoured Corps | |
| 55 | Major General Jagath Gunawardena | 2 June 2020 | 15 December 2020 | Sri Lanka Engineers | |
| 56 | Major General Prabath Dematanpitiya | 16 December 2020 | 17 January 2021 | Sri Lanka Signals Corps | |
| 57 | Major General Senarath Bandara | 18 January 2021 | 16 July 2021 | Gemunu Watch | |
| 58 | Major General Priyantha Perera | 17 July 2021 | 6 December 2021 | Gemunu Watch | |
| 59 | Major General Vikum Liyanage | 7 December 2021 | 30 May 2022 | Gajaba Regiment | Later Major General Vikum Liyanage was appointed as 24th Commander of the Army and promoted to Lieutenant General. |
| 60 | Major General Jagath Kodithuwakku | 8 June 2022 | 26 November 2022 | Sri Lanka Light Infantry | |
| 61 | Major General Channa Weerasuriya | 29 November 2022 | 14 July 2023 | Sri Lanka Light Infantry | |
| 62 | Major General Sanjaya Wanasinghe | 15 July 2023 | 13 October 2023 | Sri Lanka Artillery | He is the eldest son of 11th commander of Sri Lanka Army, General Hamilton Wanasinghe. |
| 63 | Major General W.H.K.S Peiris | 16 December 2023 | 03 June 2024 | Gajaba Regiment | |
| 64 | Major General S.R.B. Aluvihare | 20 June 2023 | 11 September 2024 | Vijayabahu Infantry Regiment | |
| 65 | Major General Dinesh Nanayakkara | 13 September 2024 | 8 February 2025 | Sri Lanka Sinha Regiment | |
| 66 | Major General Chandana Wickramasinghe | 9 February 2025 | | Gajaba Regiment | |