MILAN-22 gets under way in Vizag

Eastern Naval Command hosting the biennial exercise for the first time

The biennial Multilateral Naval Exercise, MILAN-22, was officially inaugurated by Union Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt at a programme organised at Samudrika Auditorium at Eastern Naval Command (ENC) on Saturday.

MILAN would be conducted till March 4. After the Harbour Phase, the Sea Phase, which comprises complex naval exercises, would begin from March 1.

The Union Minister inaugurated the event in the presence of Chief of Naval Staff Admiral R. Hari Kumar, Ambassadors, High Commissioners, Chiefs of Navies, delegation heads of participating countries, and the commanding officers and crew of all participating ships.

This was the 11 th edition of MILAN and the first to be hosted by the Eastern Naval Command in Vishakhapatnam.

All the previous editions had been held at Port Blair under the aegis of the Tri-Service Andaman and Nicobar Command.

The participants included 13 ships from friendly foreign countries, 39 delegations, and one maritime patrol aircraft.

Inaugurating the event, the Union Minister said this was a large congregation of friendly navies and it gave significance to the word ‘MILAN’, which means “meeting” or “confluence” in Hindi.