The ninth and the largest edition of the Milan series of naval engagements, which saw the participation of 16 foreign navies, drew to a close here on Sunday with the Commander-in-Chief of the joint services Andaman and Nicobar Command, Air Marshal P.K. Roy, taking the salute from aboard the naval offshore patrol vessel, INS Saryu. Fourteen ships, including nine foreign naval vessels, steamed past in a passage exercise.
The exercise, said a naval spokesperson, gave a glimpse of the level of engagement the Indian Navy had with friendly navies and helped revalidate communication procedures and standard operating procedures for interoperability among ships of participating navies.
Indian naval sources said the work-up would be followed by a coordinated patrol of the international maritime boundary line near the Coco Islands by Indian and Myanmar naval ships. “In all, six ships of the Indian Navy took part in PASSEX. INS Saryu, a new-generation patrol vessel which was commissioned last year and deployed into the Gulf of Aden on anti-piracy patrol soon after, was the lead ship.
