While playing campaign I was lazy and was enjoying the scenery so I set the auto pilot on. Over two missions it had 3 instances where the AI pilot got kills but was not able to process a claim upon return. Is this the norm for the game or is it something else?

So you are saying that you didn't have the "file claim" button on the details page in the post-mission information?

No sir, it did not. It moves from the mission re-cap screens, notifies me of those filing claims but has no "link" to file a claim.