The opening ceremony of the Indian Navy’s Multilateral Naval Exercise, MILAN 2022 was held at the Naval Auditorium at Visakhapatnam on 26 February 2022. 46 friendly countries were invited for MILAN 2022.
- ‘MILAN’ which means “meeting” or “confluence” in Hindi.
Multilateral Naval Exercise MILAN 2022
The 11th edition of MILAN was hosted by the Eastern Naval Command at the ‘City of Destiny’ Vishakhapatnam for the first time.
- All previous editions have been held at Port Blair under the aegis of the Tri-Service Andaman and Nicobar Command.
Theme:
The theme of the MILAN 2022 exercise was ‘Camaraderie – Cohesion – Collaboration’ which aimed to project India as a responsible maritime power to the world at large.
» The aim of the exercise was to hone operational skills, imbibe best practices and procedures, and enable doctrinal learning in the maritime domain, through professional interaction between friendly navies.
Indian Navy’s multilateral exercise MILAN 2022 was conducted in two phases.
The harbour phase of the exercise culminated on 28 February 2022. The sea phase of MILAN 2022 was conducted from 01 March to 04 March, 2022.
Harbour phase:
» As a part of the harbour phase, a MILAN village has been set up at the Tarang Naval Institute.
- The village would provide a glimpse of Indian culture to the visitors, showcasing Indian handicrafts, cuisine and arts, especially from the state of Andhra Pradesh.
» MILAN 22 also hosted an International Maritime Seminar with the theme – ‘Harnessing Collective Maritime Competence through Collaboration’ on 27-28 February.
Sea Phase:
» In the sea phase, a total of 26 ships, 21 aircraft and one submarine participated in the multilateral naval exercise conducted in the Bay of Bengal.
- The Sea phase included advanced and complex exercises in all three dimensions of maritime operations.
- The aim of the Sea Phase of MILAN was to enhance interoperability and maritime cooperation, and share best practices amongst the participating navies.
Background:
MILAN is a biennial multilateral naval exercise incepted by Indian Navy in 1995 at Andaman and Nicobar Command. It was started with the participation of only four countries, viz Indonesia, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
- MILAN is a multinational naval exercise, conducted once every 2 years.