An interesting read. Some things to consider as you read it:
The cost of putting a person in the cockpit is only about 4% of the cost of an aircraft and about 6% of the weight.
The author is assuming that the unmanned aircraft would have a full complement of sensors similar to the F-35 so the cost of the aircraft would not be reduced much by removing the pilot. In addition, additional sensors may be needed to account for the visual capability of the pilot.
The cost of software development is a major factor in aircraft development. The cost of software for an unmanned vehicle is much more than for a piloted vehicle to account for system failures normally handled by a pilot (contingency management).
As of now the US Military require the same redundancy in unmanned aircraft as they require in manned aircraft. This is to allow these vehicles to operate over populated areas and in the national airspace. So there is no “savings” from reducing system redundancy.
And for those who want a 20 g aircraft, please understand that as you increase the operational load factor on an aircraft the weight goes up significantly. Not only do you have to account for the obvious wing-fuselage carry through loads, but every component and load carrying element has to be strengthened. For example, the “shelves” which hold the flight control computers have to be strengthened to accommodate the additional load.
There will be a savings in personal costs, but that may be much less than expected, as you continue to have to pay to update the vehicle’s software to take care of the ever changing and dynamic environment of air-to-air combat.