Milan (naval exercise)
Milan is a multilateral naval exercise hosted by the Indian Navy under the aegis of the Andaman and Nicobar Command. The biennial event is held in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and features professional exercises and seminars, social events and sporting fixtures between participating nations.
Milan was first held in 1995. Apart from the Indian Navy, the navies of Indonesia, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Thailand participated in the inaugural edition.
Seventeen nations, including India, participated in Milan 2014 making it the biggest edition of the event ever. The most recent edition of Milan was held at HQENC Visakhapatnam 08 nov 2019. The three day conference was attended by 29 delegates from 17 friendly foreign navies.
The 2020 edition of Milan would have been the largest edition of the exercise with 30 foreign navies confirming their participation. However, the Indian Navy postponed the exercise in early March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Editions
Milan was first held in 1995. Since then, the event has been held biennially except for 2001, 2005, and 2016. The 2001 and 2016 editions were not held because of the International Fleet Review, while the 2005 event was postponed to 2006 due to the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. The following lists every edition of Milan and the countries that participated in the edition. Countries participating for the first time are in italics.| S. No. | Date | Participants |
| 1 | 1995 | Indonesia, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Thailand |
| 2 | 1997 | Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Thailand |
| 3 | 1999 | Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Thailand |
| - | 2001 | Not held due to the International Fleet Review 2001 |
| 4 | 2003 | Australia, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Thailand |
| - | 2005 | Postponed to 2006 due to the December 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. |
| 5 | January 2006 | Australia, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Thailand |
| 6 | 2008 | Australia, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Thailand |
| 7 | 2010 | Australia, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Thailand |
| 8 | 2012 | Australia, Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritius, Myanmar, New Zealand, Philippines, Seychelles, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam |
| 9 | 4-9 February 2014 | Australia, Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, Kenya, Indonesia, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritius, Myanmar, New Zealand, Philippines, Seychelles, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, Vietnam |
| - | 2016 | Not held due to the International Fleet Review 2016. |
| 10 | 6-13 March 2018 | Australia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, Mauritius, Myanmar, New Zealand, Oman, Seychelles, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, Vietnam |
| - | 18-28 March 2020 | Postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic''. |