Exercise MILAN: Port Blair Origins, Visakhapatnam Scale and Why It Matters

Exercise MILAN is the Indian Navy’s flagship multilateral naval exercise, a gathering held roughly every two years where navies from across the Indian Ocean and beyond train together off the Indian coast. It began in 1995 at Port Blair with four foreign navies and has been held at Visakhapatnam since 2022. The 13th edition, in February 2026, drew 74 nations, which makes MILAN the clearest single measure of how far India’s maritime outreach now reaches.

Most readers file MILAN next to Malabar and assume it’s another Quad-style drill with a strategic target in mind. It isn’t. MILAN is an open-invitation exercise, and most of the countries counted as “participating” send delegations rather than warships. This note settles what MILAN is, how an edition actually runs, what the participation numbers really measure and why it sits differently from Malabar in India’s maritime policy.

What Is Exercise MILAN?

Exercise MILAN is a biennial multilateral naval exercise hosted by the Indian Navy, which means one navy invites many others to a single event instead of training with one partner at a time. The word milan means “meeting” in Hindi, and PIB releases gloss the event as the Multilateral Naval Exercise. The facts below come from Ministry of Defence releases on each edition.

How Does an Edition of MILAN Work?

Every edition runs in two phases: a harbour phase ashore, then a sea phase offshore. The simplest way to picture it is a professional conference followed by a joint practice session. The conference half is where navies agree on how they’ll talk to each other; the practice half is where they find out whether it works.

The analogy holds for the sequence but breaks on one point. A conference ends when the talking ends, whereas the harbour phase exists mainly to make the sea phase safe. Ships from dozens of navies can’t sail in close formation, pass helicopters between decks or fire weapons near each other unless the signals, procedures and safety rules have been settled first.

The harbour phase

The harbour phase is the part most visible to the public and the part every participating country attends, whether or not it sent a ship. PIB releases for the 2022, 2024 and 2026 editions list the same core events:

• International Maritime Seminar, where naval leaders, officials and scholars discuss maritime security, technology and humanitarian support;
• Subject Matter Expert Exchange (SMEE), specialist-to-specialist sessions on warfare and seamanship topics;
• International City Parade at RK Beach in Visakhapatnam, with contingents from foreign navies;
• MILAN of Young Officers, an interaction for junior officers;
• bilateral meetings, sports fixtures, cultural visits and, in 2026, a MILAN Village opened on 15 February for delegates from over 70 countries.

The sea phase

The sea phase is where the exercise earns the name. In 2026 PIB described drills in integrated air defense, anti-submarine warfare, maritime interdiction, surface strike coordination, communication exercises and cross-deck flying, along with live gun and anti-air firings. Interoperability is the word the Navy uses for the goal: the ability of ships from different navies to work as one force, so a helicopter from one country can land on another country’s deck and a radio call means the same thing to every bridge.

Take the 2022 edition as a worked example. The harbour phase ran from 25 to 28 February 2022 and the sea phase from 1 to 4 March. At sea, 26 ships, 1 submarine and 21 aircraft took part. The first two days opened with anti-air warfare drills in which a US P-8A aircraft guided a strike by Indian fighters against a formation of participating warships, then the tempo rose to anti-submarine work and replenishment at sea with an Indian Navy tanker. Easy drills first, hard ones once trust is built.

That’s the whole design of the exercise.

Who Takes Part in MILAN?

Participation in MILAN is by invitation from the Indian Navy, and a country can take part in two ways: by sending ships or aircraft to the sea phase, or by sending a delegation to the harbour phase. The headline figure counts both, which is why it runs far ahead of the number of ships.

This trips up almost everyone who reads the 2026 numbers. PIB put the edition at 74 nations, yet the sea phase had 42 ships and submarines and 29 aircraft, and only 18 of those ships came from foreign navies. So most of the 74 nations were present through their naval chiefs, officers and observers, not their hulls. The 2022 edition shows the same gap on a smaller scale: 39 countries took part, while 26 ships and 1 submarine sailed.

On who comes, the official record is plain and it’s best kept that way. The 1995 edition had Indonesia, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Thailand. In 2026 Defence Minister Rajnath Singh met naval delegations from nine ASEAN member states on the sidelines, and maritime patrol aircraft from France, Germany and the USA flew in the sea phase. Beyond such mentions, PIB releases generally give totals rather than a full roll call, and a country’s absence from a given list says nothing reliable on its own about relations with India.

How Has MILAN Grown Since 1995?

MILAN grew in three stages: a small Andaman gathering tied to Southeast Asia, a wider Indian Ocean event, and since 2022 a mainland exercise open to navies from across the world. Each stage tracks a shift in India’s foreign policy, which is what makes the timeline worth learning rather than memorizing.

The first stage belongs to the Look East Policy of the 1990s, when India turned toward Southeast Asia. Port Blair, the headquarters of the Andaman and Nicobar Command, sits close to the approaches to the Malacca Strait, so a gathering of Southeast Asian navies there was a natural fit.

The second stage widened the guest list. PIB records that MILAN expanded with the Act East Policy and the SAGAR vision to include island nations of the western Indian Ocean and Indian Ocean littorals, reaching 18 countries by 2014. By then the Andaman facilities were the limiting factor, not the invitations.

The third stage is the move to the mainland. The Ministry of Defence said plainly that a large naval gathering needed infrastructure Port Blair couldn’t provide, and Visakhapatnam, as the headquarters of the Eastern Naval Command, was chosen. The effect was immediate: 39 countries in 2022, over 50 in 2024 and 74 in 2026.

One smaller detail is worth settling because it confuses people who read two releases side by side. In 2024 the Chief of the Naval Staff spoke of “five IOR navies in 1995”, while other releases say four countries. Both are right. Four foreign navies joined the Indian Navy, which makes five navies in all.

Why Does MILAN Matter for India?

MILAN matters because it’s the one naval event where India acts as a convenor, the host who brings many navies to the same table and the same sea, rather than as one partner among a few. That role is the practical side of India’s declared maritime policy.

The policy has a clear line of descent. On 12 March 2015, at the commissioning of the patrol vessel Barracuda in Mauritius, Prime Minister Narendra Modi set out SAGAR, Security and Growth for All in the Region. Ten years later, again in Mauritius, the vision was extended as MAHASAGAR, Mutual and Holistic Advancement for Security and Growth Across Regions, which PIB describes as carrying SAGAR’s approach from the Indian Ocean to other regions. The site’s note on SAGAR and MAHASAGAR covers the doctrine itself; for MILAN the point is simpler. The Ministry of Defence called the 2026 edition an operational expression of MAHASAGAR.

Three practical gains follow from that role:

• Interoperability with navies India may need to work alongside in an emergency, from anti-piracy patrols to a cyclone relief operation;
• Maritime domain awareness, the shared picture of who and what is moving at sea, which improves when navies know each other’s procedures and people;
• Trust at the working level, built through the young officers, specialists and commanding officers who meet at each edition.

At the 2024 opening, Rajnath Singh put India’s aim as being the “First Responder and the Preferred Security Partner” in the Indian Ocean Region. MILAN is where that claim is rehearsed in front of the navies it’s addressed to. It also connects to the wider Indian Ocean diplomacy that runs through IORA, the Colombo Security Conclave and IONS.

Where MILAN has limits

A fair assessment has to name what MILAN can’t do. Scale isn’t depth: when most of 74 nations attend through delegations, the complex training happens among a much smaller group of ships. The exercise is also biennial, so the working relationships it builds need other engagements in between to last. And MILAN is training, not a commitment; no participant takes on any obligation to act alongside India in a crisis. It’s wise to treat MILAN as a measure of India’s convening reach, and to look at bilateral exercises and agreements for the depth of any single partnership.

How Is MILAN Different from Malabar?

MILAN is inclusive and multilateral; Malabar is minilateral, a small, fixed group of like-minded navies. That one difference explains almost every other contrast between them.

Malabar began in 1992 as a bilateral drill between the Indian and US navies and now brings together the four Quad countries. The 2024 edition, hosted by India at Visakhapatnam from 8 to 18 October, had Australia, Japan and the USA alongside India, each fielding a small number of warships, aircraft and special forces. Four navies that train together regularly can attempt harder, more closely integrated drills than dozens of navies meeting every two years.

MILAN goes the other way. Its value lies in who can be in the same room: navies whose governments disagree elsewhere can still share a seminar hall and a stretch of the Bay of Bengal under Indian hosting. That breadth fits India’s stated preference for a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific, set out in its Indo-Pacific strategy, without tying India to any single bloc.

Exercise MILAN Today

Exercise MILAN is now held at Visakhapatnam, and its 2026 edition was the largest so far. From 15 to 25 February 2026 India hosted MILAN, the International Fleet Review 2026 and the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS) Conclave of Chiefs together, which PIB called the first time these events had been conducted simultaneously.

The pairing with a Fleet Review matters for anyone who learnt the old pattern. In 2001 and 2016 MILAN was dropped because India was hosting a Fleet Review; in 2026 the two ran side by side. The same fortnight also marked India taking the IONS chair for the second time, for 2025 to 2027, with 25 member navies and 9 observers.

The numbers from the closing release are the ones to keep: 42 ships and submarines and 29 aircraft, including 18 ships from foreign navies, under the theme Camaraderie, Cooperation, Collaboration. The closing ceremony was held on 25 February 2026 aboard INS Vikrant, India’s first domestically built aircraft carrier, off Visakhapatnam. The 2026 edition also sat inside a busy period for India’s maritime outreach, including the deployment covered in the site’s current-affairs note on IOS SAGAR.

If the biennial pattern holds, the next edition would fall in 2028. Treat that as an inference from the schedule, not an announced date.

How to Study Exercise MILAN for Exams

Exercise MILAN sits in two places in the syllabus: GS Paper II, under India and its neighbourhood and regional groupings, and GS Paper III, under security challenges in border areas and the maritime domain. In Prelims it appears in the current-affairs pool on defense exercises, where the traps are dates, venues and the difference between exercises.

Mains doesn’t ask about MILAN by name; it asks about maritime security and uses exercises like MILAN as evidence. Mains 2022 GS Paper III asked “What are the maritime security challenges in India? Discuss the organisational, technical and procedural initiatives taken to improve the maritime security.” MILAN belongs in the procedural half of such an answer, as a cooperative mechanism. For Prelims, International Relations accounts for 104 of the 1,403 questions in the site’s Prelims question bank, and exercise-and-grouping questions are a steady part of that share.

Revision facts worth keeping:

• MILAN began in 1995 at Port Blair with Indonesia, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Thailand;
• it’s biennial, with gaps in 2001 and 2016 (Fleet Reviews), 2005 (tsunami, held in 2006) and 2020 (COVID-19, held in 2022);
• it moved to Visakhapatnam in 2022, the headquarters of the Eastern Naval Command;
• participation: 39 countries in 2022, over 50 in 2024 and 74 in 2026;
• 2026 was the 13th edition, held with IFR 2026 and the IONS Conclave of Chiefs from 15 to 25 February;
• each edition has a harbour phase and a sea phase;
• the policy line runs Look East, Act East, SAGAR (2015) and MAHASAGAR (2025).

The common confusions, and how to keep them apart:

• Countries versus ships. “74 nations” counts delegations; only 18 foreign ships sailed in 2026.
• Four versus five in 1995. Four foreign navies plus the Indian Navy make five.
• MILAN versus Malabar. MILAN is Indian-hosted and open; Malabar is the four-navy Quad exercise that began as India-US bilateral in 1992.
• MILAN versus IONS. IONS is a symposium with members and observers, not an exercise; the two met in Visakhapatnam in 2026 but remain separate.

MILAN is a small topic with a large payoff. Learn the four anchor facts (1995, Port Blair, Visakhapatnam, 74 nations) and the difference between breadth and depth, and you have a ready example for any answer on India’s maritime diplomacy, including ties with Southeast Asia covered in the note on India-ASEAN relations. The aspirant who can explain why 74 nations but only 18 foreign ships is a strength and a limit at once will write the better answer.

Frequently Asked Questions

Practice Questions

Prelims

1. Consider the following statements about Exercise MILAN: 1. It was first held in 1995 at Port Blair. 2. Since 2022 it has been hosted at Visakhapatnam, the headquarters of the Eastern Naval Command. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

• (a) 1 only
• (b) 2 only
• (c) Both 1 and 2
• (d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer: (c) MILAN began at Port Blair in 1995 and moved to Visakhapatnam from the 2022 edition.

2. Which of the following countries took part in the first edition of MILAN in 1995? 1. Indonesia 2. Singapore 3. Sri Lanka 4. Maldives. Select the correct answer using the code given below.

• (a) 1, 2 and 3 only
• (b) 2, 3 and 4 only
• (c) 1, 3 and 4 only
• (d) 1, 2, 3 and 4

Answer: (a) The four foreign navies in 1995 were Indonesia, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Thailand; Maldives was not among them.

3. Consider the following statements: 1. MILAN was not held in 2001 and 2016 because India hosted International Fleet Reviews in those years. 2. The 2020 edition of MILAN was held in a virtual format because of COVID-19. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

• (a) 1 only
• (b) 2 only
• (c) Both 1 and 2
• (d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer: (a) The 2020 edition was postponed to 2022, not held virtually.

4. Consider the following statements about MILAN 2026: 1. It was held alongside the International Fleet Review 2026 and the IONS Conclave of Chiefs at Visakhapatnam. 2. More than half of the ships in its sea phase came from foreign navies. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

• (a) 1 only
• (b) 2 only
• (c) Both 1 and 2
• (d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer: (a) Of the 42 ships and submarines, 18 ships came from foreign navies, which is less than half.

5. Which naval exercise began in 1992 as a bilateral drill between the Indian Navy and the US Navy?

• (a) MILAN
• (b) Malabar
• (c) Varuna
• (d) SIMBEX

Answer: (b) Malabar began as an India-US bilateral drill in 1992 and now includes Japan and Australia; Varuna is with France and SIMBEX with Singapore.

Mains

1. “IPMDA (Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness) bridges the gap between India’s SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the Region) vision and the Quad’s collective Indo-Pacific strategy.” Make a critical assessment of the statement focusing on IPMDA. (10 marks, 150 words) Previous year: Mains 2026, GS Paper II.
2. Why is maritime security vital to protect India’s sea trade? Discuss maritime and coastal security challenges and the way forward. (15 marks, 250 words) Previous year: Mains 2025, GS Paper III.
3. Exercise MILAN has grown from four foreign navies in 1995 to 74 nations in 2026. Does this scale strengthen or dilute its value as a naval exercise? (15 marks, 250 words)
4. Distinguish between inclusive multilateral exercises such as MILAN and minilateral exercises such as Malabar in India’s maritime strategy. (10 marks, 150 words)
5. Examine how Exercise MILAN serves the objectives of India’s SAGAR and MAHASAGAR visions in the Indian Ocean Region and beyond. (15 marks, 250 words)