Context: The Indian Navy has postponed its multi-nation mega naval exercise ‘MILAN’ due to continuing spread of the coronavirus.This year MILAN (11th edition) was scheduled to be held in Visakhapatnam from 18th - 28th March 2020.Navies of about 30 friendly foreign countries were to participate in the exercise, which was to be hosted by India. Some of these countries are Australia, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. This was to be one of the biggest naval exercises for the Indian Navy.

About Exercise MILAN

• It is a biennial, multilateral naval exercise which started in 1995.
• The Navy has held 10 editions of the Milan exercise, with the theme of “synergy across the seas” to enhance professional interactions between friendly foreign navies and learn best practices from each other, since 1995.
• It was conducted at the Andaman and Nicobar Command until 2018.
• It is held under the aegis of Eastern Naval Command.
• Over 40 countries were expected to participate in the exercise in 2020.