The Indian Navy’s Exercise Milan 2026 commenced at Visakhapatnam on 15 February and will run until 25 February. This year’s event is the 13th Edition and will include an International Fleet Review and a Conclave of Chiefs.
There are 71 warships taking part of which 45 are from the Indian Navy, including the Vikrant Carrier Battle Group. The foreign warships include the Australian frigate HMAS Warramunga, the Japanese destroyer JSYūdachi, the Korean destroyer ROKS Gang Gam-chan, the US destroyer USS Pinckney, Russia’s frigate RFS Marshal Shaposhnikov, the Philippines the new frigate BRP Miguel Malvar, South Africa’s frigate SAS Amatola and UAE’s corvette Al Emarat.
The Indian Navy has stated that the primary goals of MILAN 2026 are:
- “Operational Interoperability: Testing the ability of diverse navies such as the US, Russia, Japan, and Australia to operate as a single cohesive force.
- Advanced Warfare Training: Focusing on the “Sea Phase” (Feb 21–25) which includes live-fire drills, Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW), and complex Electronic Warfare (EW) scenarios.
- Combatting Asymmetric Threats: Practicing collective responses to non-traditional challenges like piracy, drone swarms, and maritime terrorism.
- Humanitarian Synergy: Enhancing Subject Matter Expert Exchanges (SMEE) to streamline search-and-rescue and disaster relief protocols.”
Sources: Various including IN
