The Sri Lanka Army says its Special Forces Brigade carried out a special operations exercise at the ITC Ratnadipa Hotel in Colombo this week, focused on training for combat scenarios inside dense urban environments.
According to the Army, the drill was titled “Operation Hard Duck” and was conducted on Tuesday, 26 May 2026. It focused on the strategic employment of Special Forces in urban operational settings, including the challenges of working through built-up, multi-storey civilian infrastructure.
The Army did not detail the scenarios played out at the hotel or the number of personnel involved, but said the exercise centred on rehearsing the planning, movement and engagement techniques required for high-rise urban operations. The ITC Ratnadipa, a recently opened luxury hotel on the Colombo waterfront, was used as the venue.
Urban-operations training has become a recurring focus for the Sri Lanka Army’s Special Forces Brigade in recent years, reflecting a wider shift in international military doctrine toward city-centric scenarios. The Army has periodically run similar publicised drills at large venues and public buildings to test tactical readiness.
The disclosure comes against the backdrop of the government’s ongoing national crackdown on organised crime and drugs, in which special police and military assets have been deployed in support of island-wide enforcement operations.
