Indian Navy fleet tanker INS Shakti (R) replenishing Royal Indonesian Navy frigate KRI Raden Eddy Martadinata during Exercise Milan – 2022. (File photo)
New Delhi: The Indian Navy will be hosting its largest-ever multilateral exercise – “Milan – 2024” – from February 19 to February 27. The 12th edition of exercise, will be hosted by the Visakhapatnam-headquartered Eastern Naval Command in the Bay of Bengal, the Navy said on Wednesday.
An official said that the final planning conference of the multinational exercise was held at Visakhapatnam, which the Eastern Naval Command’s chief of staff (operations) chaired. It was attended by all participating navies both in person as well as via videoconferencing.
This eight-day megadrill will not be just about size but promises substance too. The exercise will be conducted in two phases – harbour and sea, in which participating navies will take part in high-intensity tactical training. These include manoeuvring drills, air-defence exercises, submarine manoeuvres, and even joint war-gaming scenarios.
Apart from these, communication drills, gunnery exercises, and multinational replenishment-at-sea will add another layer of complexity and collaboration in the overall exercise.
Milan – 2024 will not be just a one-time mega event. The biennial exercise has been steadily increasing its reach since its inception in 1995 with just four countries. The 2020 exercise was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the previous edition in 2022 saw 40 nations, including major players, like the US, UK, Japan, and Australia, showcase their naval prowess.
The 2024 edition promises to be an even bigger leap forward, solidifying India’s position as a key maritime power and a reliable partner in the region.
