Exercise Milan 2022: India to host 46 nations in mega naval wargames

 The theme of this edition of exercise Milan is camaraderie, cohesion and collaboration

India has invited a total of 46 friendly foreign countries to participate in the multinational naval exercise Milan in Visakhapatnam, scheduled from February 25. The theme of this edition of exercise Milan is camaraderie, cohesion and collaboration. The countries that have been extended invitations for participation include Russia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Israel, Iran, France, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Brazil, United Arab Emirates, among others. 

In 2020, out of the 41 countries that were invited to participate in the exercise, 30 of them have confirmed but the drill was cancelled due to the Covid-19 outbreak worldwide. In 2018, navies of 17 countries had participated in this exercise. It is believed that the United States will be participating for the first time in this exercise. 

In this regard, Eastern Naval Command Chief Staff Officer (Technical) Rear Admiral Sanjay Sadhu launched an official website of the Milan-2022 exercise on Tuesday. As per an official, India has increased its naval engagements with friendly nations at bilateral, trilateral and multilateral levels since 2018. Initiated in 1995, Exercise Milan is held biennially and conducted with friendly navies. Earlier, it was being held at Port Blair but this time it has been shifted to Visakhapatnam.

The Harbour Phase of Milan 2022, which would allow participating navies to discuss maritime subjects of common concern and share solutions, from February 25 till February 28. The professional competitions and conferences planned during this phase shall build the operational tempo for the Sea Phase planned from March 1-4. This Phase would be utilised to consolidate upon the lessons learnt during harbour interactions and to build upon the experience of operating together at sea.