The U.S. Navy looks to use cloud-based replicas of software installed in ships that will enable engineers to experiment with new codes without disrupting operations and crucial systems, C4ISRnet reported Thursday.

The “digital twin” of ship-based software will also help developers work on the same baselines and mitigate duplication. In addition, the effort will support the Navy's plans to conduct “over-the-air” updates for ships that have the Consolidated Afloat Networks and Enterprise Services software installed into their systems, according to the report.

“In an ever-dynamic warfighting environment, the ability to improve, add to, or build new capabilities quickly has extraordinary value,” said Rear Adm. Kathleen Creighton, cybersecurity division director at the Office of the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Information Warfare.

“That is what we are trying to accomplish. Put the warfighter’s perspective at the center of the software we deliver and do it iteratively at speed,” she added.

Navy officials said at an industry event in San Diego that the service plans to install updates to the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier’s command, control, communications, computers and intelligence systems through the “digital twin” concept by 2021.

The U.S. Navy trialed the performance of its Raytheon-made, mid-band jammer prototype in a three-month testing period.

Engineering development models of the Next Generation Jammer Mid-Band demonstrated basic functions and data collection of electromagnetic environmental effects in an anechoic chamber, Naval Air Systems Command said Thursday.

Tests took place at Naval Air Station Patuxent River's Air Combat Environmental Test and Evaluation Facility in Maryland.

EA-18G Growler aircraft would use the dual pod NGJ-MB system to perform electronic attack while airborne.

“Data captured during this period not only supports our initial flight clearance, but also provided lessons learned that will benefit the entire NGJ-MB test program moving forward," said Capt. Michael Orr, program manager for airborne electronic attack systems at the Navy.

The service branch plans to begin flight tests of the system with the Air Test and Evaluation Squadron in spring this year.

NASA has attained new technical milestones towards the launch of Perseverance, the rover that would explore the red planet for the Mars 2020 mission.

A team of technical personnel integrated a couple of components that Perseverance requires to collect and transport samples from Mars to Earth, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory said Thursday.

The California-based laboratory delivered Perseverance in February to Kennedy Space Center where the rover underwent additional installations and testing.

Earlier this month, the team installed the motor-powered adaptive caching assembly that uses a handling arm to gather samples from the red planet's surface. The arm moves sample tubes across the rover's coring drill and storage space.

The team also completed the installation of the bit carousel, a mechanism that offers drill bits for rock sampling.

"With the addition of the Adaptive Caching Assembly and Bit Carousel, the heart of our sample collection system is now on board the rover," said Matt Wallace, JPL's deputy project manager for the Mars 2020 mission.

Perseverance's launch would commence between July 17 and Aug. 5. NASA expects the rover to reach Mars' Jezero Crater on Feb. 18 next year.

NASA used a robotic arm push to address a technical issue that rendered a Mars lander unable to dig as designed, CNN reported Thursday.

The Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport or InSight lander's robotic shovel arm applied force to a heat probe that didn't function properly due to a lack of friction.

The probe, also known as the "mole," is designed to dig through the Martian surface. The lack of friction hindered the mole from properly performing a dig.

"A bit of good news from #Mars: our new approach of using the robotic arm to push the mole appears to be working!" NASA said in a tweet to announce it has fixed the issue.

The fix follows NASA's update on the issue last October. The InSight mission began in 2018 with the goal to study the red planet's interior.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers are calling on the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee to approve funding for 98 F-35 aircraft in the fiscal year 2021 defense policy bill to support readiness and aircraft availability goals.

The office of Rep. John Larson, D-Conn., said Wednesday that the co-chairs of the Joint Strike Fighter Caucus and 126 bipartisan signatories are also requesting funding for “continued investment in the F-35 program.”

Larson, along with Reps. Martha Roby, R-Ala., Marc Veasey, D-Texas, and Michael Turner, R-Ohio, said in the letter that funding is needed to support the production of spare parts and depot-level maintenance efforts to meet availability requirements. The F-35 program will also drive the U.S. economy and support over 1,800 suppliers as well as 254,000 jobs across the country, the letter states.

“Lastly, we believe a long-term, outcome-based sustainment contract will guarantee performance metrics at a fixed-price — a win-win for our men and women in uniform and the American taxpayers,” the co-chairs noted.

Other efforts outlined in the President’s budget request that require approval include the Continuous Capability Development and Delivery modernization effort and Joint Air to Surface Standoff Missile program to support the F-35.