Originally Posted by
steamchicken
I think the problem may just be that if the "wingman" can do all this stuff, it costs nearly as much as a proper fighter but depends on one being nearby to operate, so it's not cheap and it's too valuable to take many more chances with.
If the improvements can go into sensors, countermeasures, or weapons that can be carried by the "formation leader", you could just do that and not bother building a whole second aircraft.
Except do we know that, we have zero idea what the cost is going to, these also wont be suicide drones, you can take more risk, but you wont be suiciding them into hostile fighters
Where these will shine will be the other task. Escorting an awacs, a manned fighter with a pilot in it will need multiple shifts to keep a CAP near an awacs. A loyal wingman doesn't care, it doesn't need sleep. It just needs maintainence.
Whats the limit on a pilot, 8-12 hours mission then at least 12 hours rest, probably more. A drone missions would be limited by the hardware capababilites, we are already seeing it now, RQ-4 airborne for days. Get ghostbat/skyborg, if it doesn't use it weapons and doesn't need maintainence you can use an MQ-25 to keep it airborne for days if needed