The World - News from July 10, 1987

Britain has cut the annual cost of defending the Falkland Islands from a high of $2.8 billion to just $162 million, according to a report from Parliament’s Select Committee on Defense. Meanwhile, media reports, unconfirmed by the Defense Ministry, said the number of combat troops in the South Atlantic islands would be cut to about 200 men from just under 1,000. This figure would not include support troops. Defense experts said Britain has decided to cut back on its troop strength--and as a result the annual cost--because work on a military complex at Mount Pleasant, with a runway capable of handling wide-bodied jet aircraft, is now completed.