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Yea, right. That has been parroted for decades. Isn't going to happen.

Actually it is - both the Air Force and Navy are moving to UAVs (or UAS as some call them now although UAV is what everybody knows them as). The US Army and Marine Corps are also pushing UAV.

If I'm a ground pounder, do I want a manned fighter that could be 15-20 minutes away, or do I want some UAVs that are 40,000 directly overhead, that have been following my patrol, and that can put Hellfires and Viper Strikes on whatever targets I designate within 2-3 minutes? Personally, I would take the UAV that can start putting Hellfires and Viper Strikes on targets within a few minutes rather than wait for an A-10 or F-16 that could be 10-15 minutes away.

The UAVs are where the future is headed, and even if the Air Force and Navy refused to go down that route (which they won't - the AF is a big supporter of UAVs and the Navy is already working on submersible carriers for UAVs), the Army and Marine Corps are working to have UAVs basically follow individual patrols in the future. Basically you would have a company going out on patrol, and they would have half a dozen or so UAVs (a "flock" as some are calling them) high overhead, ready to instantly drop down and start putting bombs or missiles on the bad guys, as well as constantly monitoring the broader area for bad guys, and giving the soldiers or Marines instant access to overhead imagery.

Of course, it's already been mentioned that UAVs would probably dominate in aerial combat, since they can go well above the G-tolerance of a human. People don't realize that the biggest factor holding fighters back is the capacity of the human body to handle the G forces involved.

Sounds like there’s going to be a traffic jam with all the UAV’s flitting around at various altitudes in the battlespace. I’ve read that there is already a struggle going on to decide which service is going to ‘control’ the UAV’s operationally.

I don’t know if we’ll be looking at a modern-version of the Key West Agreement or simply a recognition that 1 service, probably the USAF, will control the air tasking for everything operating above xxx altitude.