VISAKHAPATNAM: MILAN 2024 which promises to be a ‘never before’ event as over 50 navies will be in attendance with 15 ships and one aircraft from friendly countries will formally get under way on Wednesday at Visakhapatnam.
Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will be the chief guest for the inaugural event, who will also launch the MILAN village and exhibition on the same day.
The ships which arrived on Sunday include Iranian Navy’s IRIS Dena, a Moudge Class Frigate, the French Navy’s Atlantique 2 aircraft, HMAS Warramunga of the Royal Australian Navy, JS Sazanami of the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force, and HTMS Prachuap Khiri Khan (OPV 552) of the Royal Thai Navy. These vessels joined Corvette 20 of the Vietnam People’s Navy in a grand display of international camaraderie. This is the Australian Defence Force’s first regional presence deployment for 2024 and the first large-scale multilateral exercise.
The Australian Defence Force will be represented by the Commander of the Australian Fleet, Rear Admiral Chris Smith, and HMAS Warramunga, with an embarked MH-60R Seahawk helicopter.
The nine-day event kickstarted with harbour phase which will have a series of programmes, including much awaited city international parade on February 22. Vice President of India Dhankar will be the chief guest and Governor Abdul Nazeer will arrive on Tuesday.
GVMC Commissioner CM Saikant Varma along with additional commissioner KS Viswanathan inspected arrangements being made at beach road for the grand event. He instructed the GVMC staff to maintain cleanliness and hygiene and asked them to ensure proper functioning of solar lights and CCTV cameras.
Speaking to the media, Joint Police Commissioner K Fakeerappa said all security arrangements for MILAN 2024 have been completed. As many as 3,536 police personnel were deployed.