Downsizing Sri Lanka army could mean better long-term security ‘if done right’: analysts

  • Proposals would reduce number of approved military personnel from 200,783 to 135,000 by 2024, and further reduced to 100,000 by 2030
  • Experts welcome move, but caution downsizing has to be done strategically to aid efforts to get out of current economic crisis

Sri Lanka has proposed to halve its military by 2030. Photo: AFP
Sri Lanka has announced plans to halve its military by 2030 as part of efforts to cut costs in light of the country’s current financial crisis, a move experts say could result in better long-term security “if done the right way”.

State minister of defence Premitha Bandara Thennakoon said the proposals to help downsize the army post-war would reduce the number of approved military personnel from 200,783 to 135,000 by 2024, and projected to be further reduced to 100,000 by 2030. The army was also expected to undergo “technological modernisation”.

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