What Happened
- Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated the 13th edition of Exercise MILAN 2026 at Visakhapatnam on February 19, 2026, the Indian Navy's flagship multilateral naval exercise.
- A record 74 nations participated, making it the largest and most inclusive edition in MILAN's history, with 42 ships and submarines and 29 aircraft deployed.
- Singh declared that naval cooperation is "no longer an option; it is an imperative," warning that no single navy can unilaterally address the full spectrum of contemporary maritime threats.
- Threats highlighted include piracy, maritime terrorism, illegal fishing, trafficking, cyber vulnerabilities, supply chain disruptions, and climate change-driven humanitarian crises.
- Singh invoked India's MAHASAGAR vision — Mutual and Holistic Advancement for Security and Growth Across Regions — as the strategic framework underpinning India's maritime engagement.
- He described India as a "Vishwa-Mitra (trusted global friend)" committed to playing a constructive and dependable role in the region.
- The exercise, themed "Camaraderie, Cooperation, Collaboration," ran February 18–25, 2026, in Visakhapatnam and the Bay of Bengal, and concluded with a closing ceremony aboard INS Vikrant, India's indigenous aircraft carrier.
- MILAN 2026 was held concurrently with the International Fleet Review (IFR) 2026 and the 9th Conclave of Chiefs of the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS) 2026 — a rare triple convergence of maritime multilateralism.
Static Topic Bridges
Exercise MILAN: Origins, Evolution, and Strategic Significance
MILAN is the Indian Navy's biennial multilateral naval exercise, first held in 1995 under the Andaman and Nicobar Command with just four participating navies — Indonesia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. Originally conceived in alignment with India's Look East Policy, it expanded progressively under the Act East Policy and the SAGAR initiative. Over three decades it grew from a small regional drill to one of the largest multilateral naval exercises in the Indo-Pacific, with 74 nations in 2026.
- First edition: 1995 (4 nations); 13th edition: 2026 (74 nations, 42 ships + submarines, 29 aircraft)
- Held biennially; editions were skipped in 2001, 2005, 2016, and 2020
- Hosted by the Eastern Naval Command, Visakhapatnam
- Exercises cover anti-submarine warfare (ASW), air defence, maritime interdiction operations, surface strike coordination, search and rescue (SAR), and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR)
- Germany, the Philippines, and UAE joined as new entrants in 2026
- MILAN 2026 ran alongside the International Fleet Review (IFR) and the 9th IONS Conclave — the first time all three events converged simultaneously
Connection to this news: Singh's call for naval cooperation at MILAN 2026 is both a statement of strategy and a demonstration of it — India hosting 74 navies for complex joint drills is itself the operationalisation of the principle that collective maritime security requires collective platforms.
India's Maritime Doctrine: From SAGAR to MAHASAGAR
India's maritime foreign policy has evolved through two overlapping frameworks. SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the Region) was articulated by PM Narendra Modi during his Mauritius visit in March 2015 as India's Indian Ocean Region (IOR) doctrine. It emphasised five pillars: protecting India's maritime interests, deepening economic and security cooperation with IOR neighbours, promoting collective action, pursuing sustainable development, and expanding maritime engagement. MAHASAGAR (Mutual and Holistic Advancement for Security and Growth Across Regions), announced by PM Modi in 2025, marks a strategic evolution — expanding from a regional focus on the IOR to a global maritime vision integrating economic diplomacy, technological connectivity, and environmental sustainability, with special emphasis on the Global South.
- SAGAR announced: March 12, 2015 (PM Modi's Mauritius visit)
- MAHASAGAR announced: 2025 — expands SAGAR's regional scope to a global maritime vision
- Both doctrines position India as a net security provider in the Indian Ocean rather than merely a consumer of maritime stability
- MAHASAGAR explicitly links maritime security with economic prosperity — relevant for Prelims static question on India's IOR policy
- Distinct from but complementary to the QUAD (India-US-Japan-Australia) Indo-Pacific framework
Connection to this news: Singh explicitly invoked MAHASAGAR at MILAN 2026 as the strategic foundation for India's outreach to 74 nations, framing multilateral naval exercises as instruments of the doctrine's "holistic advancement" objectives.
Information Fusion Centre – Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR)
The IFC-IOR is the Indian Navy's regional maritime domain awareness hub, established at Gurugram on December 22, 2018, co-located with the Information Management and Analysis Centre (IMAC) — a joint facility of the Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard. It monitors the Indian Ocean and adjoining seas in real time and publishes Weekly Maritime Security Updates (WMSU), Monthly Maritime Security Updates (MMSU), Half-Yearly Overviews, and Annual Reports. Since inception, IFC-IOR has established over 65 international working-level linkages and India has signed information-exchange agreements with 22 countries and one multinational construct.
- Launched: December 22, 2018, by then-Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman
- Location: IMAC, Gurugram (Haryana) — jointly administered by Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard
- Function: Comprehensive Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) across the IOR
- 65+ international linkages; information-sharing agreements with 22 countries
- Threats tracked: piracy, trafficking, Illegal Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing, gun running, maritime terrorism, and irregular human migration
- Equivalent framework: Singapore's Information Fusion Centre (IFC) for Southeast Asia
Connection to this news: IFC-IOR is India's institutional backbone for the naval cooperation Singh advocated at MILAN 2026. While MILAN builds interoperability through exercises, IFC-IOR delivers day-to-day real-time intelligence sharing — the two together constitute India's multilateral maritime security architecture.
Contemporary Maritime Threats: Red Sea Crisis and Indian Ocean Piracy Resurgence
The context for Singh's urgency at MILAN 2026 is a sharp deterioration in Indian Ocean maritime security since late 2023. Houthi forces (Iran-backed, Yemen) began attacking commercial vessels in the Red Sea from November 2023, recording at least 113 separate attacks by 2025, with four mariners killed. This forced a massive rerouting of global shipping away from the Suez Canal — transits fell from approximately 2,068 in November 2023 to around 877 in October 2024, significantly raising freight costs. Simultaneously, Somali Pirate Action Groups (PAGs) re-emerged in late October 2025, using hijacked dhows as motherships and projecting force 300–800 nautical miles offshore — their longest-range operations since 2011. Growing intelligence indicates coordination between Somali pirates, al-Shabaab, and Houthi intermediaries.
- Red Sea crisis: 113+ Houthi attacks on commercial ships since November 2023; Suez Canal transits halved
- Somali piracy resurgence: PAGs reactivated late 2025; range extended to 800 nm offshore
- EU's Operation Aspides (launched 2024) extended to cover the Strait of Hormuz and Arabian Sea
- Approximately 40% of India's external trade passes through the Indian Ocean sea lanes
- Key chokepoints: Strait of Hormuz, Bab el-Mandeb, Malacca Strait — all on India's strategic periphery
- IUU fishing and trafficking remain persistent low-intensity threats across the IOR
Connection to this news: Singh's enumeration of threats — piracy, terrorism, trafficking, supply chain disruptions — at MILAN 2026 directly maps onto this real-world escalation. The exercise's unprecedented 74-nation participation reflects the urgency felt across the Indo-Pacific about protecting shared sea lanes.
Key Facts & Data
- MILAN 2026: 13th edition, February 18–25, 2026, Visakhapatnam
- Participation: 74 nations, 42 ships and submarines, 29 aircraft (including French, German, and US maritime patrol aircraft)
- New entrants in 2026: Germany, Philippines, UAE
- Closing ceremony held aboard INS Vikrant (India's first indigenous aircraft carrier, commissioned 2022)
- MILAN founded: 1995, with 4 nations (Indonesia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand)
- SAGAR doctrine: March 2015; MAHASAGAR: 2025 — evolution from regional to global maritime vision
- IFC-IOR: established December 22, 2018, Gurugram; 65+ international linkages, 22 bilateral information-sharing agreements
- Houthi Red Sea attacks: 113+ since November 2023; Suez Canal transits fell ~58% (2,068 to 877 monthly)
- Somali piracy resurgence: PAGs operational from late 2025 with 300–800 nm offshore range
- Rajnath Singh's key statement: "Cooperation among the navies is no longer an option; it is an imperative"
- India self-described as "Vishwa-Mitra" (trusted global friend) at MILAN 2026