rattman - agreed.
Jackonicko - the Stingray started off as the Unmanned Carrier-Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) in 2010. It was then vaunted to have an AESA RADAR with AIM-120 with a robotic wingman notion for F/A-18 and F-35C. By 2016 it was all scaled down to Carrier Based Air Refuelling System (CBARS) and “a little ISR”. Also, they hurriedly recruited, trained and invented a whole new career field (737X) as Aerial Vehicle Operator (AVO) Warrant Officers - 450 of them. They join the Naval Aviators (Pilots), Naval Flight Officers (WSOs, EWOs, TACCOs, etc…) and Naval Aircrew (Crewmen, Cryptologists, EW Specialists, etc…) as a 4th flying badge that requires flying training. The AVO’s in depth aircrew training was required as the levels of autonomy originally envisaged were just not there. They have to complete Officers Candidate School, Ground School, Basic Flying Training and then MQ-25 specific training.
As for Taranis then again there was a great vision from the ever long Project CHURCHILL lead in. Taranis was always called a demonstrator and it cost the taxpayer ~£180M. Again, it was little more than a radio-controlled Hawk, with no ability to let it go “off tether” without a human tugging on its leash. I think it last flew 6 years ago and is effectively shelved. It also drew on Corax, Raven and HERTi - the latter being a pretty facsimile of what General Atomics had been producing for years.
Let’s fast forward to General Atomics Protector, with a semi-autonomous capability (auto take off and land), that programme is at the cutting edge of current uncrewed production aircraft. The tricky bit is making it certified with a suitable detect and avoid system - but again it requires human pilots and sensor operators to make it function. Granted, just like cars with ‘driver assist’ then I suspect that more and more autonomy will be built in. In the car industry there are 5 levels - 1 - no automation, 2 - hands on shared control, 3 - eyes off, 4 - mind off and 5 - no controls. At best in aircraftI believe we are at Level 2 and levels 3, 4 and 5 for a large aircraft in non-segregated airspace is 25+ years away. Then again, it won’t happen overnight. However, the various aircraft manufacturers will keep peddling ‘snake oil’ photos of fancy looking uncrewed concepts with bold claims of loyal wingmen and autonomous fighters - but with immature tech to back that up.