I think that the UAV transition is one day inevitable, but a few comments I must make.
With everything in Air to Air combat being driven to avoiding the merge (AMRAAM+Capable Radar), and if you are driven to the merge not having to turn (HOBS heater misslies, AA-11, ASRAAM, Aim 9X) why do people think it is important to have a 12g+ aeroplane.
In such roles as CAS, where human interaction is critical in terms of talking a pilot on to a target from the ground, and avoiding fratricide. How the hell is a UAV expected to perform this function? CAS or KI are the two roles where by far the most weapons have been dropped in combat in the past 5 years.
It will be interesting to see the the whole new field of countermeasures that are deployed to defeat these things. Jamming being the first one that comes to mind, but also I think there will be a whole bunch of CMs developed to fool the autonomous ones.
Obviously i am a fighter pilot who is biassed, but I do think that fighter pilots jobs are safe for at least till 2025. If anyone disagrees I would like to hear your argument for Lockheed scrapping the JSF project!!!!