Unit morale and esprit departed with the jets.
Somewhere 20 years hence when the war with China breaks out someone will be asking “where are our fighters” as the drones get blasted out of the sky by RedArmy fighter pilots in fighters 20 years newer than the dwindling few American opponents.
We don’t know what advances could occur in Artificial intelligence in the next 20 years.
Actually, the Red Chinese fighters in your scenario will have been destroyed on the ground long before taking off by swarms of cheap, disposable robot strike planes operated by bored remote pilots in a container building in Nevada.
“Somewhere 20 years hence when the war with China breaks out someone will be asking “where are our fighters” as the drones get blasted out of the sky by RedArmy fighter pilots in fighters 20 years newer than the dwindling few American opponents.”
Pilots (red, or any other color) are limited in what their bodies can take, and can only die once. Remotely piloted aircraft can pull as many g’s, both pos. and neg. as the airframe can withstand, which already is FAR more than a human body.
If the remote-piloted plane is shot down, the pilot can switch over to a fresh aircraft holding nearby on autopilot and re-engage. I’d rather be the remote pilot than the one in the cockpit..... and if the plane is flown by an artificial intelligence computer then you’re no longer limited by the number of pilots you can train, only by the capacity of your production line and availability of raw materials.
A.I. and R.P.V. is the future of air combat.