As ‘MILAN 2026’ grows in its content, it reflects reputation, credibility India enjoys
Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet Rear Admiral Alok Ananda speaking at the closing ceremony of MILAN-2026 onboard the indigenous warship INS Vikrant in Visakhapatnam on Wednesday
- The growing scale of MILAN speaks about India’s vision and intended strategic autonomy the country aims to achieve
- Five countries participated for the first time in MILAN, including Philippines, Oman, South Africa, South Korea and UAE
- The closing saw participation of 17 friendly foreign ships and 34 foreign personnel
Visakhapatnam: From a mere participation of five navies to the present 75, Exercise MILAN has metamorphosed into a significant premier multilateral maritime engagement since its inception in 1995.
Highlighting it at the closing ceremony of the ‘MILAN-2026’ onboard the magnificent INS Vikrant anchored off a few miles off the Visakhapatnam coast, Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet (FOCEF) Rear Admiral Alok Ananda laid emphasis that oceans and seas are the factors that unite the world and in order to ensure that this great common is available to the entire humankind and peaceful users, the seas have to remain safe and secured. India has taken the lead of being one of the powerful regional navies in the world through a larger participation in exercises such as MILAN, the Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet underlined.
Responding to a query posed by The Hans India on what sort of message does the Indian Navy is trying to convey to the enemy countries through a large-scale combined event like IFR-MILAN, the FOCEF exuded confidence stating, “We are trying to convey a sense of camaraderie, cohesion and collaboration. However, we leave it to the countries to interpret what they want to.
Personnel from the friendly foreign countries and the Indian Navy at the closing ceremony of MILAN-2026 onboard the indigenous warship INS Vikrant in Visakhapatnam on Wednesday
The large scale participation shows deep trust reposed in our country and the Indian Navy as the friendly foreign countries have sent the best of ships, aircraft and personnel for the exercise and interaction. This itself speaks about the reputation and credibility our navy enjoys.”
Describing the Indian Navy’s current strength as a well-balanced and well-rounded fleet, the FOCEF elaborated, “The strength of any defence force is not to be counted in terms of mere numbers as they don’t mean anything. It is actually the ‘effect’ of the machinery and the gathering that matter the most.
I can assure that the warships inducted both in the Eastern Fleet and Western Fleet are one of the best in the world.” However, when it comes to numbers, they may not be sufficient as the area is so vast. But in terms of the might of the vessels and aircraft, the Indian Navy is well placed, he conveyed.
About growing indigenisation in the defence space, Rear Admiral Alok Ananda, said, “We are no longer importing any of the ships from anywhere and we are in an era of commissioning a ship in every 50 days built by the Indian shipyards. Even in the decade of 60s, Indian Navy stressed upon indigenisation wherein we could construct the first indigenous brigade. And from thereon the story has always been always upwards and onwards as we are one of the few countries which construct an aircraft carrier plus nuclear submarines.”
As the theme of the 13th edition of MILAN focused on ‘camaraderie, cohesion and collaboration’, the exercise that started off on February 19th saw participation from 75 friendly foreign countries in sea and harbour phases. “Exercise MILAN embodies the spirit by amalgamating diverse navies under a shared commitment of maintaining a safe and secure maritime environment. A total of 90-hr of flying was carried out by various participating aircraft at sea,” Rear Admiral Alok Ananda shared during his address at the closing ceremony of the MILAN.
Five countries participated for the first time in MILAN, including Philippines, Oman, South Africa, South Korea and UAE.
The platform provided a great learning experience for the participating navies. “IFR-MILAN is a diplomatic maritime exercise that provided a great experience for us to see navies coming together, discuss challenges and learn best practices. As I got trained in India, the exercise also aided me to give back to the country. Apparently, India has always been supporting Seychelles,” shared B. Esparon, Navigating Officer of Coast Guard Ship Zoroaster.
The closing ceremony of MILAN saw participation of 17 friendly foreign ships and 34 foreign personnel plus 13 Indian Navy ships and equal number of Commanding Officers.
