The
Sri Lanka Army is the oldest and largest of the
Sri Lanka Armed Forces and is the nation's
army. Established as the
Ceylon Army in 1949, it was renamed when Sri Lanka became a
republic in 1972. In 2010, the Army had approximately 200,000 regular personnel, between 20,000–40,000 reserve personnel and 18,000
National Guardsmen and comprises 13 operational
divisions, one air-mobile
brigade, one
commando brigade, one
special forces brigade, one independent armored brigade, three
mechanized infantry brigades and over 40
infantry brigades. From the 1980s to 2009 the army was engaged in the
Sri Lankan Civil War.