Zlatoje Zdravkovic - Electrical Engineering Institute
Petar Vukelja - Electrical Engineering Institute
Radomir Naumov - Electrical Engineering Institute
Nikola Tesla - Belgrade Milan Savic

The paper analyzes the problem of reducing the lightning protection of 400 kV overhead transmission lines; it develops criteria when this protection can be reduced or even left out completely and presents quantitative ratios of reliability parameters for lines with full and reduced lightning protection.