The compromise version of the National Defense Authorization Act was approved by a 92-7 vote in the Senate Thursday. Because the House approved the bill last Friday, it now goes to President Barack Obama for his signature. While Defense Secretary Ash Carter had urged Obama to veto the previous version of the bill, the size of the majorities supporting the bill means Congress would likely have the votes to override a possible veto. The bill authorizes $618.9 billion in the base budget and $59.5 billion for overseas contingency operations.
The Air Force is leaning toward a less-sophisticated autonomous aircraft in the second increment of the Collaborative Combat Aircraft, the services chief futurist said. He also suggested that the next increment of CCA may be air-launched, a la the "Rapid Dragon" experiments conducted by the service in recent years.