[flowerplough]

Worth every penny? Hardly. F-22 and -35 Joint Strike are dated today and obsolete the day after tomorrow. Any strike craft that carries a pilot is limited by its pilot. Maneuver, payload, range, and endurance are all compromised when the "platform" is occupied by a passenger/observer.

[RunningWolf]

Yes, but no unmanned vehicle out there has any sort of situational awareness at all.

In the VN conflict AF Pilots in F105 ThunderChief would taunt the VietCong into launching their SA2's at them. As I understand, the F105's would then roll into the path of the SA2 (head to head at it) and break off at the last second.

What UAV can do that even today?

[Blueflag]

Sorta true ... until you consider close air support. When grunts need iron on a target RIGHT NOW, you need the human in the seat to confirm the target and kill it. RPVs are not yet up to that task.

... although I agree with you that the [distant] future of strike platforms are pilot-less (i.e., the pilot is sitting in an AIR-CONDITIONED trailer using his PS-3)