Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson hosted Indian Navy chief Adm. Sunil Lanba at the Pentagon March 21.

The two heads of Navy met with Secretary of Navy Richard V. Spencer and discussed ways to improve interoperability to include additional naval exercises and staff talks.

"The relationship between the U.S. Navy and the Indian Navy has never been stronger," said Richardson. "There has been meaningful progress made in strengthening the cooperation between our two great democratic and maritime nations. We are exploring every way to expand that partnership even further based on our shared interests."

This is Richardson's fourth time meeting with Lanba. The two last met at the IMDEX Asia defense conference in May 2017.