Major General Sampath Fernando has been appointed Chief of Staff of the Sri Lanka Army with effect from 27 October.

Hiru News reported the appointment on Saturday afternoon, adding that the officer represents the Artillery Regiment. The report runs to two sentences and gives no further detail.

Chief of Staff is the Sri Lanka Army’s second-ranking appointment, below the Commander of the Army.

The post he is taking over

The Army’s own website supplies what the report does not. The outgoing officer is Major General U.K.D.D.P. Udugama RWP RSP VSV USP ndc psc, who served as the 70th Chief of Staff of the Sri Lanka Army and as the 15th Colonel of the Regiment of the Gajaba Regiment.

The Gajaba Regimental Centre held a farewell parade and dinner for him on 20 October 2026, where he received the ceremonial farewell salute on the eve of his retirement, closing a career of more than 36 years. The Commander of the Army separately commended his service.

If Udugama was the 70th holder of the post, Fernando becomes the 71st Chief of Staff. That ordinal follows from the Army’s own description of his predecessor rather than from any announcement, and has not been stated by either the Army or the reporting.

The handover also moves the appointment between regiments — from the Gajaba Regiment, an infantry regiment, to the Sri Lanka Artillery.

A name worth checking

A search for this appointment returns a Daily FT report headlined “Major General Dampath Fernando new Army Chief of Staff”, which at a glance appears to correct the spelling of the new appointee’s name. It does not. That report is dated 28 March 2018 and concerns a different officer and a different appointment eight years ago.

The name reported on Saturday is Sampath Fernando. Ada Derana carried the appointment under the headline “Major General Sampath Fernando appointed Chief of Staff of Sri Lanka Army”, which corroborates that spelling, although the site itself has been unreachable for more than five weeks and the report could not be retrieved or dated, so it is not cited here.

Not reported

Neither the appointing authority nor the date of the appointment order is given. No service record, previous appointment, course history or decorations are reported for Major General Fernando, and the Army website had not published the appointment at the time of writing. Nothing is said about whether other senior appointments accompany it.

Hiru News was the only verified newsroom whose filing could be dated at the time of writing.

Sources: Major General Sampath Fernando appointed as the new Chief of Staff of the Sri Lanka Army — Hiru News, October 24 (Sinhala).