US and Japanese naval forces launched their annual maritime field exercise off the Japanese coast. Activities will include air, surface and subsurface operations.

A keel-laying ceremony last week marked the start of construction on the Navy's first Arleigh Burke-class Flight III destroyer, the USS Jack H. Lucas. The Flight III configuration includes the new SPY-6 radar system and Aegis Baseline 10.

Parsons will be providing advanced video activity analytics for the Navy's cyberspace operations under a task order with a base value of $293.8 million. The three-year deal includes two 24-month option periods that could raise the total value to $710.98 million.

General Dynamics has completed its design for the Navy's new Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine and expects to kick off construction by the end of next year, chairwoman and CEO Phebe Novakovic said. The company's Electric Boat division is expected to team up with with Huntington Ingalls Industries' Newport News Shipbuilding division to produce a fleet of 12 nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines.

Serco has secured a $43 million contract to support the development of the Navy's next multimission Small Surface Combatant. The company will assist the Navy with technical design, network architecture, cybersecurity, system integration and logistics.

The Navy says it has completed electrical repairs to the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman and is preparing the vessel for deployment. The Navy said the issue was confined to the Truman and affected no other carriers in the Nimitz class.

Hyundai Heavy Industries' Ulsan shipyard hosted a ceremony for South Korea's latest frigate, the 2,800-ton FGG-II Seoul.
The ship boasts an advanced sonar system and a noise-reducing hybrid propulsion system.

A shark-shaped autonomous underwater vehicle unveiled in China is said to have exceptional speed and stealth characteristics with its fish-tail propulsion. The Robo-Shark is designed for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions and can also be used for fast approach intercepts or tracking underwater targets.

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency says more than half of the state's waterways don't meet water-quality standards for aquatic life and human health. Problems cited across the 3,416 impaired waterways include the presence of mercury, bacteria, phosphorous, nitrate and other pollutants.

Houston officials are seeking federal funds for a project to dredge a mouth bar in the San Jacinto River that contributes to periodic flooding in the Kingwood area. Funds are available for dredging sand deposited by Hurricane Harvey, but city officials and the US Army Corps of Engineers disagree on how much sand the storm left on the bar.