The future name of the new B-21 bomber is down to 15 contenders. The Air Force Global Strike Command leadership chose the list of its favorites from the more than 4,600 entries received during a service-wide contest to name the platform that ended May 5, according to a May 10 release. Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James announced the name challenge in February at AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando, Fla. In the coming months, she and the Chief of Staff of the Air Force will select the winner. The moniker is scheduled to be announced at the Air Force Association’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference at National Harbor, Md., in September.
Two of the Air Force’s semi-autonomous drones flew air combat maneuvers coordinated by an “AI pilot,” or mission autonomy software, in a test Oct. 26, a first for the Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft program.