BOMBAY, India (AP) - India and the United States began weeklong joint naval exercises Saturday off India's west coast, U.S. officials said.
Guided missile destroyers USS Antietam, based in San Diego, and the USS O'Kane, based in Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, arrived in Bombay and were to be followed by warship USS Carl Vinson early next week, U.S. officials said.
U.S. officials say the two nations - estranged during the Cold War era - are on the verge of unprecedented security and military cooperation. Last month, the Indo-U.S. Defense Policy Group met to encourage high-level defense policy dialogue, military-to-military exchanges and joint activities.
During a meeting in Washington earlier this year, President Bush and Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee pledged to forge close relations. Several top U.S. officials have visited in recent weeks, including Secretary of State Colin Powell and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.
Earlier Saturday, the USS John C. Stennis battlegroup, represented by USS Lake Champlain, also participated in an exercise with INS Godavari of India's navy.
The two navies, along with observers from Mauritius and Madagascar, also participated in multinational search-and-rescue exercises and integrated marine surveillance earlier this week off the west coast of India, officials said.

BOMBAY, India (AP) - India and the United States began weeklong joint naval exercises Saturday off India's west coast, U.S. officials said.
Guided missile destroyers USS Antietam, based in San Diego, and the USS O'Kane, based in Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, arrived in Bombay and were to be followed by warship USS Carl Vinson early next week, U.S. officials said.
U.S. officials say the two nations - estranged during the Cold War era - are on the verge of unprecedented security and military cooperation. Last month, the Indo-U.S. Defense Policy Group met to encourage high-level defense policy dialogue, military-to-military exchanges and joint activities.
During a meeting in Washington earlier this year, President Bush and Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee pledged to forge close relations. Several top U.S. officials have visited in recent weeks, including Secretary of State Colin Powell and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.
Earlier Saturday, the USS John C. Stennis battlegroup, represented by USS Lake Champlain, also participated in an exercise with INS Godavari of India's navy.
The two navies, along with observers from Mauritius and Madagascar, also participated in multinational search-and-rescue exercises and integrated marine surveillance earlier this week off the west coast of India, officials said.