The subject matter of the three defence agreements to be concluded during Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s visit has been disclosed, closing a gap left open when Singh landed in Colombo on Tuesday for the first visit by an Indian Defence Minister in 38 years.

Foreign Affairs Minister Vijitha Herath set out the contents. The agreements are due to be exchanged when Singh meets President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who holds the defence portfolio, on Wednesday morning.

The three agreements

First, a memorandum of understanding between Sri Lanka’s National Cadet Corps and the National Cadet Corps of India.

Second, a memorandum between Sri Lanka’s National Defence College and India’s National Defence College in New Delhi.

Third, Indian support for the maintenance of air defence systems operated by the Sri Lanka Air Force, NewsFirst reported.

The L70 detail

The third agreement is the substantive one, and Herath gave it a specific history. India supplied the Sri Lanka Air Force with 24 units of 40mm L70 air defence weapons between 2000 and 2006 — the years of the ceasefire and the return to war with the LTTE. India has already carried out maintenance work on 18 of those guns free of charge in recent years. Under the new agreement, it will also maintain the remaining six at no cost.

Supply or maintenance? The outlets differ

The three accounts do not describe the air defence agreement the same way.

The Sunday Times, reporting two days before the visit began, said one of the MoUs would cover “the supply of Indian air-defence guns” — a new transfer of equipment. EconomyNext quotes Herath saying the third agreement “pertains to repair of military equipment.” NewsFirst’s account is maintenance of guns already delivered.

Two of the three describe servicing rather than procurement, and NewsFirst’s version is the only one with internal arithmetic behind it — 24 supplied, 18 done, six to go. On the balance of the reporting the agreement covers upkeep of the existing fleet, not a fresh purchase, though no party has published the text.

What else is on the programme

The two sides will also review the India–Sri Lanka Defence Cooperation MoU signed during President Dissanayake’s visit to India in April last year, according to the Sunday Times.

Singh is to virtually open three bridges rebuilt with Indian assistance after Cyclone Ditwah — two in Kurunegala District and one in Batticaloa — and to review Indian-funded reconstruction carried out under US$450 million in aid. His programme also includes a visit to Parliament to meet Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya and observe proceedings, a Bodhi Pooja at Gangaramaya, a reception aboard an Indian Navy ship on Wednesday evening, and the Sita Amman Kovil in Nuwara Eliya on Thursday.

Singh was received at the airport by Deputy Defence Minister Maj. Gen. Aruna Jayasekara and Indian High Commissioner Santosh Jha. Before leaving New Delhi he said Sri Lanka is “one of our most important partners under the Neighbourhood First and MAHASAGAR initiatives.”

A discrepancy on the 38-year gap

The Sunday Times dates the last visit by an Indian Defence Minister to the signing of the Indo-Lanka Pact, which it places in July 1989. NewsFirst, citing the Indian Ministry of Defence, names K.C. Pant in 1988. The Indo-Lanka Accord was signed in July 1987. The two outlets are working from different baselines, and only NewsFirst names the minister.

Update, September 9 — the Daily Mirror settles it at six guns

The Daily Mirror’s account of the signed MoU resolves the disagreement above, and it resolves in NewsFirst’s favour. The memorandum covers six L70 guns of the Sri Lanka Air Force, under a Government of India grant — and the Daily Mirror confirms the guns “were earlier provided to the Sri Lanka Air Force by India.”

Six is exactly the residual in NewsFirst’s arithmetic: 24 supplied between 2000 and 2006, 18 already serviced, six remaining. The account with the internal breakdown was the correct one, and the Sunday Times’ “supply of Indian air-defence guns” framing was wrong — nothing new is being transferred.

One refinement to our own earlier reading. The Daily Mirror describes the work as upgrading the six guns rather than maintaining them, and attaches it to a grant instrument. That is a stronger undertaking than routine free servicing: an upgrade implies a capability change to the weapons, not merely their return to working order. The paper says the work “will significantly strengthen the air defence architecture protecting critical assets in Sri Lanka.” Whether “upgrade” and NewsFirst’s “maintenance” describe the same programme in different words, or a scope that grew between the announcement and the signing, is not stated anywhere.

The Daily Mirror also fills in the other two memoranda, which had been reported only by name:

Still not reported

No outlet says who signed on the Sri Lankan side, whether the texts will be published, how long the L70 undertaking runs, or what the upgrade consists of. The value of the Indian grant has not been published either.

Sources