<span style="color: #222222;">The latest edition of the Indian Navy's multilateral exercise MILAN 2022 is scheduled to commence from 25th of this month in Visakhapatnam. MILAN 22 is being conducted over a duration of 9 days in two phases with the harbour phase scheduled from 25th to 28th February and Sea Phase from 1st to 4th March. Indian Navy said, India is celebrating the 75th year of its independence in 2022 and MILAN 22 provides an opportunity to commensurate this milestone with our friends and partners. The theme of the MILAN 2022 exercise is Camaraderie – Cohesion – Collaboration which aims to project India as a responsible maritime power to the world at large.<br />''<br />''The aim of the exercise is to hone operational skills, imbibe best practices and procedures, and enable doctrinal learning in the maritime domain, through professional interaction between friendly navies.<br />''<br />''MILAN is a biennial multilateral naval exercise incepted by the Indian Navy in 1995 at Andaman and Nicobar Command. Since its inception, the event has been held biennially except for 2001, 2005, 2016, and 2020. While the 2001 and 2016 editions were not held due to International Fleet Reviews, the 2005 editions was rescheduled to 2006 due to the 2004 Tsunami. 2020 edition of MILAN was postponed to 2022 due to COVID-19.<br />''<br />''Starting with the participation of only four countries, Indonesia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Thailand, in the 1995 edition, the exercise has since transitioned leaps and bounds in terms of the number of participants and complexity of exercises. Originally conceived in consonance with India's Look East Policy, MILAN expanded in ensuing years with the Centre's Act East policy and Security And Growth for All in the Region SAGAR initiative, to include participation from island nations in the Western Indian Ocean Region as also IOR littorals. Participation increased from six regional countries to 18 countries in 2014 which included IOR littorals.<br />''<br />''MILAN 22 will witness its largest-ever participation with more than 40 countries sending their warships or high-level delegations. This edition of MILAN would be larger in scope and complexity with a focus on exercises at sea including exercises in surface, sub-surface, and air domains and weapon firings. Operational Conferences and Seminars are also being conducted, providing participating navies and delegations an opportunity to express their views on maritime security. The high-profile foreign delegates will comprise the highest level naval leadership, agency heads, Ambassadors, and equivalent.<br />''<br />''Indian Navy said, MILAN 22 will provide an invaluable opportunity to foster bonds of maritime brotherhood across the oceans.</span><br />