I attended a flight safety presentation last evening from a retired AF Major test pilot from Edwards, Bill Koukourikas, now serving there as a civilian. During the course of his presentation, his statement, "No future attack military aircraft within the next 15 years will have pilots in the cockpit. The last tactical aircraft with a pilot in the cockpit will be the F-35."
The primary case for UAVs in the military is to remove the pilot from a position of danger thus allowing for higher risk missions, together with lower cost and more dispensable airframes.
Try that argument on your typical fare paying passenger!
