Originally Posted by
Lima Juliet
rattman
True, but the RQ-4 and MQ-9B are built to be Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) and are slow and not very manoeuvrable. If you build a supersonic and high-G capable loyal wingman it will likely have the same 1-3 hours of endurance. If you need it to stay capable of making a supersonic dash for High Value Asset Defence (HVAD) then it will need to keep going to a tanker to top off.
.
How do you figure that, F-16 were doing 8+ hour sorties from aviano to serbia
modern fighters combat mission is limited by 3 things, the biggest is the squishy human meat bag, weapons and fuel. Fuel depending on tanker availability becomes a non issue, part of why I think MQ-25 will be a major seller allows manned and unmanned fighters to refueled. Drones wont have the squishy meatbag that needs sleep and food. That will only leave weapons expenditure and maintainence / service schedules now coming in as a consideration