Air Chief Marshal Gagan Bulathsinghala RWP, RSP, VSV, USP, MPhil, MSc in Mgt, FIM National Defence College, India, psc is a retired air officer and a former commander of the Sri Lanka Air Force.
15 Facts About Gagan Bulathsinghala
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Gagan Bulathsinghala has held the position of Chief of the Air Staff and after his retirement on 12 September 2016, was appointed the Sri Lankan Ambassador to Afghanistan, a position he holds currently.
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Gagan Bulathsinghala's father was Bulathsinghalage Percy Marcus Perera, who was a lawyer and a former flight lieutenant in the Royal Ceylon Air Force.
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Gagan Bulathsinghala received his entire education from Nalanda College, Colombo.
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Gagan Bulathsinghala was involved in publishing the college's monthly newspaper, Nalanda.
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Air Marshal Bulathsinghala is a graduate of Air Command and Staff College at Air University in Alabama, USA, and the National Defence College in New Delhi, India.
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Gagan Bulathsinghala has postgraduate degrees of Master of Philosophy in defence and strategic studies from University of Madras in India and a Master of Science in defence studies management from General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University in Sri Lanka.
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Gagan Bulathsinghala is a Fellow of the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Hawaii and the Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies in the USA.
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Gagan Bulathsinghala was presented with the Nalanda Keerthi Sri award by his alma mater, Nalanda College, Colombo, in 2015.
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Gagan Bulathsinghala joined the National Defence College as an officer cadet on 12 February 1981 and was commissioned as a pilot officer in the General Duties Pilot Branch on 8 April 1983.
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Gagan Bulathsinghala was the founding Commanding Officer of No 6 Squadron SLAF and longest serving Commanding Officer of the No 4 Helicopter Squadron SLAF.
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Air Marshal Gagan Bulathsinghala is a VVIP pilot with over 4,500 flying hours.
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Gagan Bulathsinghala has been the VVIP pilot for four Sri Lankan presidents JR Jayewardene, Ranasinghe Premadasa, Dingiri Banda Wijetunga and Chandrika Kumaratunga.
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Gagan Bulathsinghala commanded the Sri Lanka Air Force Base China Bay.
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Gagan Bulathsinghala was promoted to the rank of air marshal on 1 June 2015, and was appointed as the Commander of the Sri Lanka Air Force on 16 June 2015.