It actually makes more sense to skip the F-15 or F-16 and let the drone do most of the work.
The drones are expendable and carry a few missiles. Something like an AWACS finds targets and cues the drones, which swarm the target and fire missiles.
If no targets are found, the drones return to base for refueling and a new mission. No pilots to get shot down and captured.
I don’t think the drones would ever return to base. If the fighter flew just 200 miles out from base the drone shouldn’t have enough range to return home. So they must expected to be 100% expendable. Avoiding the requirement to take off and land greatly and avoiding pilot life support requirements reduces the strength requirement for the drone airframe reducing weight a lot, but you still have highly limited range and very high parasitic drag on the fighter. If the fighter came under attack and had to skedaddle, the first thing it would have to do would be jettison the drone(s).
The autonomous swarming concept has promise, but it seems like you wouldn’t have much of a swarm if each mother fighter carried only one drone. With a 1:1 ratio mother:drone, your drone swarm is only as large as the number of fighters you launch.