Loop antennae - hardly. Specialist on board, probably. But is a 2 sec delay to a 1 sec burst a problem.....ICATQ as I don't know.
Those who do know what's needed are not going to post on here. I have no direct knowledge of what goes on in such air platforms, but if the drone alternative is so good then I'm surprised the bean counters haven't already suggested it.
Of course they are some areas over which drones will not be allowed to fly - at least, not for many years. So there very probably will be a need for an airliner-based manned platform to replace the current Nimrod R.
Unmanned road haulage? At the moment the Germans can't even get their tracking and road tariff system working properly, let alone an automatic guidance system.... Mercedes press demonstration of their automatic braking system was hardly a resounding success as they suddenly realised it didn't like being inside a steel warehouse building due to RF reflections confusing the radar. So they tried to cheat by putting a block of wood on the ground, then stamping on the brakes as they crossed it, stopping before hitting the car ahead. Worked fine in practice; unfortunately on the day either someone had tidied away the piece of wood or the S-Class suspension was so good the driver didn't notice the wood, so the result was 3 rather crumpled S-Class and a lot of red faces when the 'fog' finally cleared...