Commander of the Army (Sri Lanka)
The commander of the Army is the title of the professional head of the Sri Lanka Army. The current commander of the Army is Lieutenant General Lasantha Rodrigo.
The post's precursor was known as Commander of the Ceylon Defence Force.
Serving army commanders have by convention been of the rank of Lieutenant General, promoted to the rank of General on the day of their retirement or after getting the appointment of Chief of Defence Staff which post is now obsolete. Sepala Attygalle was the first army commander who was promoted to full general on the day of his retirement in 1977. Tissa Weeratunga was the second commander to be promoted to the rank of full general on the day of his retirement in 1985.
Sarath Fonseka, Jagath Jayasuriya and Shavendra Silva were elevated to the rank of general while serving as commander. Denis Perera and Nalin Seneviratne were promoted to full general in 2007 after 26 years and 19 years of retirement respectively.
The official residence of the commander is General's House, Colombo.