Outside of active combat/war, it will probably always operate that way.
But I think even in the near term, the pilot/operator will be able to simply tell the drone who/what to engage, and leave the rest to AI. Soon after that, the AI will be autonomous to follow global/mission specific tactics and rules of engagement without operator input. There will certainly be a wave-off function in case the operator detects a situation that requires breaking an engagement.
In combat, having to operate a wingman drone would be far too distracting for a pilot. A shore/ship/AWACS based operator will likely be the "human in the loop".
Seems like a good broadband jammer will mix this brilliance—autonomous only goes so far.
Great points - the above was my favorite - you're right on about this...