General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University (KDU) (Sinhala: ජෙනරාල් සර් ජෝන් කොතලාවල ආරක්ෂක විශ්ව විද්‍යාලය Jenaral Sar Jon Kotalawala Arakshaka Vishva Vidyalaya) located at Kandawala, Ratmalana, Colombo, is a joint services academy where cadets of the three wings Sri Lanka Army, Sri Lanka Navy and Sri Lanka Air Force are trained before they go for their pre-commission training to their academies. Established in 1980 as the General Sir John Kotelawala Defence Academy, named after General Sir John Kotelawala, 3rd Prime Minister of Ceylon; it was elevated to the status of a university by an amendment bill passed in Parliament on 11 October 2007. In 2018, the parliament of Sri Lanka passed a special provisions act to abolish SAITM Medical faculty and to transfer the students to General Sir