India carries out ''Milan 2008'' with foreign navies

New Delhi, Mar 17 (UNI) The Indian Navy has carried out a joint naval exercise called ''Milan 2008'' with navies from eleven countries at Port Blair in January this year, the Lok Sabha was informed today.

Defence Minister A K Antony, in a written a reply, said the ships and the delegates who came from different countries to participate in the exercise were from Australia, Brunei, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Myanmar, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam.

A seminar was also held during the exercise which raised issues of common concern relating to maritime security, environment and disaster management, Mr Antony added.

Responding to another question, the Defence Minister said Air Force user flight trials were conducted from December 11 to 20, 2007 at Interim Test Range (ITR), Chandipur, and all trial objectives were met completely.

He said Air Force was processing the case for procurement of Akash Missile system (AMS) from the designated production agency.

Air Force was also processing the case for procurement of AMS based on their user trials. Army has informed that they will take a final view on inducting the Akash Weapon system (AWS) after studying the report of the Air Force user trials, he said.

He said the campaign has conclusively established the readiness and effectiveness of the AWS in defence against flying targets under various flying conditions including engaging target in ''ripple'' mode.

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