In an interview to The Indian Express, Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister G L Peiris, who met External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and National Security Advisor Ajit K Doval in New Delhi, said: “There is a proposal for the purchase of two Dornier aircraft. There is no finality, nothing has been agreed upon. There are proposals and counter proposals, and it is one of the matters under discussion.” Indian official sources confirmed that the two sides were in “very early” stage discussions on the supply of the two Dornier aircraft. The Dornier is a twin-engine multi-purpose aircraft, used by the Indian Navy and Coast Guard for maritime surveillance. It is also used by the Indian Air Force. It is manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd under licence from Swiss company RUAG, and is a showpiece of the government’s “Make In India” programme. The proposal for India to transfer a maritime surveillance aircraft to Sri Lanka has existed for four years, but with the chill in relations in the recent past, the matter was never seriously discussed. The Dornier aircraft were among 23 from the IAF fleet that took part in a flypast and aerobatics display during the Sri Lankan Air Force’s 70th anniversary in March 2021. At that time, the Indian High Commission said Sri Lanka was “Priority One” for India in the defence sphere. Peiris said his government and New Delhi were looking to finalise more immediately a memorandum of understanding on an Indian $15-million fund for the refurbishment of Buddhist temples, and another agreement on collaboration between the Sushma Swaraj Institute of Foreign Service and the Colombo-based Bandaranaike International Diplomatic Training Institute. Another proposal under discussion is for India to supply a 4,000-metric tonne floating dock. Source: The Indian Express