This may or may not ruin your day, but I am in complete agreement with you on the UAV thing. For a lot of reasons, they are the correct approach to a lot of ground attack missions. My money is on the Marine Corps developing a truly effective CAS network using UAVs as a FAC controlled airborne asset. I’ll even go so far as to say that some of the work you’ve been involved in might have laid the initial foundations for that ultimate goal. If it increases the speed and efficiency of supporting our troops in contact, I suspect we are both in violent agreement toward making it happen.
And by the way, I have always enjoyed working with the Air Force - both of my Uncles were fighter pilots in WWII (P-51s)
Semper Fi, Buddy