I remember hearing this song before. It was the wrong tune back in the 60's and it's the wrong tune still.
We had to learn a hard lesson with missile carriers only during the Vietnam unpleasantness,that's why even the F-22 mounts a gun today. Trying to regress to less capable, but numerous, aircraft and putting too much faith in UAV's is a prescription for disaster.IMHO.
More importantly, I think the F-22 and the F-35 will be the last single-seat combat aircraft. Technology is advancing quickly, probably much faster than doctrine. Some of the autonomous stuff being developed by Boeing is incredible.
Perhaps it’s time to go back to first principles: the significant mission of the air force is to put bombs on a variety of targets (strategic and tactical, static and dynamic)target and shoot the bad guy’s airplanes out of the sky. What is the most combat effective way to do this, bounded by logistics and support (including R&D, manufacturing capacity, cost, supportability, etc)?
I think the handwriting is on the wall: manned combat aircraft are on the decline. The mission soon will be more effectively and efficiently performed by unmanned aircraft.
Technology happens and upsets the apple cart: cavalry, coastal artillery, navigators, bombadiers, gunners, reconnaissance, etc.