Simple idea to allow us to configure autosaving, or just autosave more in general. Couple hooks that should trigger an auto_save, and name the save accordingly:
before_interception - Before entering air combat
after_interception - After air combat
before_mission_start - Before combat starts, when you load it, you are exactly as you were just before, including any squad changes
after_mission - When combat finishes.
mission_turn_X - At the start of every turn of mission
This would help greatly with testing, as not only you always have a save to submit from before/after, but also if the game crashes, you didn't really lose progress.