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.
The U.S., South Korea, and Japan flew an unusual trilateral flight with two U.S. B-52H Stratofortress bombers escorted by two Japan Air Self-Defense Force F-2s, and two ROK Air Force KF-16 fighters—both countries’ respective variants of the F-16—July 11. That same weekend, the top military officers of the three nations…