Visakhapatnam, February 26: Exercise MILAN 2026, hosted by the Indian Navy under the theme “Camaraderie, Cooperation and Collaboration,” concluded on February 25 with a closing ceremony on the indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant off the Visakhapatnam coast.
This flagship multilateral event drew a record 75 friendly foreign nations up from just five at its 1995 start along with 42 ships and submarines plus 29 aircraft, including 18 foreign ships and five foreign aircraft.
The harbour phase featured expert exchanges, young officers' programs, and planning sessions to build interoperability.
The sea phase (February 21-25) included advanced anti-submarine exercises, air defence drills, over-the-horizon targeting, maritime surveillance with assets like US P-8A and French Atlantique aircraft, live gunnery, visit-board-search-seizure operations, and replenishment at sea. For the first time, INS Vikrant's MiG-29K fighters joined air defence drills.
