IS AMPHIBIAN AIRCRAFT A VIABLE OPTION FOR SEARCH & RESCUE AND MARITIME RECONNAISSANCE OPERATIONS IN SRI LANKA
Sri Lanka being the 25th largest island of the world having a land area of 65,610 Square kilometers is surrounded by the sea possessing 1,585 km of coast line full of pristine beaches. The territorial waters of Sri Lanka extend 12 nautical miles in to sea from the baseline as per the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and the Exclusive Economic Zone extends for 200 nautical miles from the boundary of the territorial waters. Hence, Sri Lanka is having exclusive rights of exploiting the maritime resources of 517,000 square kilometers large sea area which is 8 times larger than the land area. There is no doubt that reaching economic prosperity of Sri Lanka depends upon exploiting its maritime resources. If the Sri Lankan claim for extended exclusive economic zone is accepted, it owns 1,400,000 square kilometers of sea area which is 23 times of its land mass. The living resources, exploitable minerals and hydrocarbons would be the treasures for Sri Lanka while promotion of oceanic recrea