Sri Lanka to reduce the size of its Army

COLOMBO (News 1st) - Sri Lanka is planning on cutting down the size of its army.

The Defence Ministry on Friday (13) said that the current Sri Lanka Army strength of 200,783 personnel will be reduced to 135,000 by 2024.

Quoting State Defence Minister Premitha Bandara Thennakoon, the Defence Ministry said that the Army strength will be set at 100,000 by 2030.

It added that the overall aim of the strategic blueprint is to raise a technically and tactically sound and well-balanced defence force by the year 2030 in order to meet the upcoming security challenges on par with the National Security dimensions of the country.