According to the U.S. Naval Institute News on February 20, the Indian Navy deployed two aircraft carrier battle groups in the Bay of Bengal to participate in the "Milan 2024" multinational naval exercise hosted by the country.
The aircraft carriers HMS Chaori King and INS Vikrant and their escort vessels, other Indian Navy aircraft and maritime patrol aircraft and drones took part in one of the largest multilateral naval exercises in the region from February 19 to 27, the report said.
The Milan military exercise — which takes its name from the Hindi word for "unity" — began in 1995 with the participation of the navies of Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Indonesia. Since then, the biennial exercise has grown rapidly as New Delhi has stepped up its involvement in maritime affairs. The Milan 2024 military exercise will be divided into two phases, port and sea, with the participation of more than 50 countries, 35 ships, 50 aircraft and various delegations. This is a significant increase compared to the 39 participating countries in the 2022 exercise.
Among the ships participating in the 2024 exercises, notable non-Indian sea ** vessels include the American destroyer USS Halsey, the Australian frigate USS Wallemonga, the Japanese guided-missile destroyer USS Ripple, the Indonesian frigate USS Sultan Iskandar Muda, the Iranian destroyer USS Dana, as well as the Russian missile cruisers USS Varyag and USS Marshal Shaposhnikov.
Prior to 2020, the exercise took place under the jurisdiction of the Andaman Nicobar Command, the Indian military's theater command responsible for defending Indian islands directly adjacent to the strategically important Strait of Malacca. The Strait of Malacca separates the Indian and Pacific Oceans. With the influx of exercise participants, India shifted the location of the exercise to the port city of Visakhapatnam, located in the area of responsibility of the naval command in the country's east.
The Milan 2024 military exercise will be the first time that an Indian aircraft carrier has participated in an international exercise. The aircraft carrier "Vikrant", which entered service in 2022, has a displacement of 450,000 tons, it is expected to carry a large number of Indian aircraft as well as foreign aircraft from the United States, Russia and France. Last year, India chose the Rafale-M fighter jet of the French company Dassault Aircraft Manufacturing Co., Ltd. instead of Boeing's F A-18E F Super Hornet carrier-based fighter jet to form its carrier-based air wing.
The Indian Navy's press release on the exercise claimed that the "Milan" military exercise was "a gathering of friendly navies" and referred to the participants as "friendly foreign countries". Notable participants during the Milan 2024 exercise include the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue countries the United States, Japan and Australia, as well as India's traditional partners such as Russia. (Compiled by Du Yuanjiang).