CDS Sri Lanka Navy talks played out in New Delhi on Thursday, with Gen NS Raja Subramani, Chief of Defence Staff, receiving Vice Admiral Damian Fernando, Commander of the Sri Lanka Navy, who is in India on his first official visit abroad since taking charge in July.

Defence sources said the two officers reviewed existing bilateral defence cooperation and explored new avenues for joint military training and capacity enhancement.

CDS Sri Lanka Navy meeting widens the visit's scope

Regional security matters also featured in the conversation, framed by HQ IDS as part of an effort to deepen the India Sri Lanka strategic partnership. The CDS Sri Lanka Navy exchange adds a tri-service dimension to a visit that had so far run largely through the Navy.


Talks fold into a fuller Delhi itinerary

Vice Adm Fernando's meeting with Gen Raja Subramani came after the Sri Lankan Navy chief was accorded a ceremonial Guard of Honour at South Block and held talks with Adm Krishna Swaminathan, Chief of the Naval Staff, on deepening Navy to Navy cooperation earlier in the visit. A leg at Southern Naval Command in Kochi is expected to follow.

Background: training roots in India

Vice Adm Fernando assumed office as the 27th Commander of the Sri Lanka Navy on 1 July 2026. He specialised in gunnery and missiles at INS Dronacharya, the Indian Navy's premier training establishment, where he was adjudged Best All Round Officer.

Meeting sits inside a busier defence calendar

It comes weeks ahead of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh's own planned visit to Colombo to review the India Sri Lanka Defence Cooperation MoU signed in April 2025. Gen Raja Subramani has separately pressed the case for deeper tri-service jointness at forums such as the Future Warfare Course keynote earlier this month, a theme HQ IDS folded into its framing of Thursday's meeting as well. The Ministry of External Affairs lists defence as one of several strands running through the wider India Sri Lanka relationship, alongside trade, connectivity and development cooperation. HQ IDS, the tri-service organisation Gen Raja Subramani heads as Chief of Defence Staff, has increasingly folded foreign military engagement into its own jointness agenda.

Kochi leg still to come

Vice Adm Fernando's New Delhi engagements conclude before he travels onward to Southern Naval Command in Kochi, where training exchanges with the Indian Navy are expected to round out the visit.