The professional head of the army is the Commander of the Army, at present Lieutenant General Vikum Liyanage.^[1] He is assisted by the Chief of Staff of the Army (Sri Lanka).^[2] The Commandant of the Volunteer Force is head of the Army Volunteer Force and is responsible for the administration and recruitment of all reserve units and personnel. The Army Headquarters, situated in Sri Jayawardenepura is the main administrative and the operational headquarters of the Sri Lanka Army.

Organized and controlled by the Army General Staff at Army HQ, various formations are raised from time to time to suit various security requirements and operation in the country and overseas. The Army at present has deployed one field corps (1 Corps) and five regional commands known as Security Forces Headquarters, which are the Security Forces Headquarters Jaffna (SFHQ-J), Wanni (SFHQ-W), East (SFHQ-E), Mullaitivu (SFHQ-MLT) and South (SFHQ-S).

Each SFHQ and most divisions are commanded by a General Officer Commanding in the rank of Major General. A SFHQ has several divisions under its command and each division is further divided into brigades. Each brigade is commanded by an officer in the rank of Brigadier and has a number of Infantry battalions, support arms (Artillery, Engineers and Signals) and support services (Service Corps, Engineering Services, Ordnance Corps, Electrical and Mechanical Engineers) under assigned to it. There are also several independent brigade (Air Mobile Brigade, Armored Brigade, etc.)

In other parts of the country, there are Area and Sub-Area Headquarters. Armour, Artillery, Engineers and Signals Units are grouped under Brigade Headquarters of their own arm; Armored Brigade, Artillery Brigade and so on.

Following is a list of all combat formations and their commands of the Sri Lanka Army.