It's well known that it costs lots of time and lots of money to train a fighter pilot. It takes actual air combat to separate the aces from the skeet- and statistically, those are the only two divisions.
During WWII, both Japan and Germany had large numbers of first-line fighters at the close of the war. What they ran out of was skilled pilots.
Unmanned vehicles will allow us to fly extremely high-risk missions while protecting those expensive pilots from harm.
Also remember, a pilotless vehicle can pull a lot more Gs in a dogfight without danger of the pilot blacking out. And the weight of the pilot and his support systems can be replaced with extra fuel and weapons stores.
I don't agree with you.
When I was instructing, it was very easy to determine who was going to be good and who wasn't. The kids coming into the RAG could all fly, and my job was to teach them to fly, fight and not run into the ground while trying to do the other two things.
What I fear we will get with drones are technicians instead of warriors. If some guy can sit with a cup of coffee while calling passing IP, I don't want him protecting my country. I don't want missions planned by some creep in Washington with a slide rule ever again, but that is what you will get when you take the human equation out of warfare.
It has to be dangerous and deadly so that those who practice it will remain at the top of their game. It is supposed to be high-risk, otherwise they would let anyone do it. That is what I am afraid of.