Gagan was born in Colombo on 12 September 1961. His father was Bulathsinghalage Percy Marcus Perera, who was a lawyer and a former flight lieutenant in the Royal Ceylon Air Force. His mother was Dona Beatrice Perera. He received his entire education from Nalanda College, Colombo. While at school he did many extracurricular activities such as cadeting, ruby and being a member of many school societies. He was involved in publishing the college's monthly newspaper, Nalanda. Some of his contemporaries at Nalanda are Major General Ubaya Madawela, Major General Janaka Walgama, Major General Ajith Wikramasingha, the consultant neurologist Udaya Ranawaka and the Sri Lankan former test cricketer Sanath Kaluperuma.[3]
Bulathsinghala joined the National Defence College as an officer cadet on 12 February 1981 and was commissioned as a pilot officer in the General Duties Pilot Branch on 8 April 1983.
During Eelam War I, the then Flying Officer Bulathsinghala was the pilot of Bell 412 that was hit by a Rocket-propelled grenade that has been fired by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam on 18 December 1986 in Poovarasankulam Vavuniya. After a fierce gun battle and in spite of losing one engine, he managed to land the helicopter in Vavuniya base after declaring an emergency.[5]
During his tenure Air Marshal Bulathsinghala held the positions of aide-de-camp to the Commander of Air Force, Overall Operations Commander Air Defence and the Command Flight Safety Officer, Chief Instructor of the Air Wing at Defence Service Command and Staff College, Director Air Operations, Chief of Staff. He was promoted to the rank of air marshal on 1 June 2015, and was appointed as the Commander of the Sri Lanka Air Force on 16 June 2015.[6][citation needed]
