Actually it is. As much as people want to dismiss human fighter pilots they will always be needed for one thing. Funding for new planes. Aviation history is filled with stories of how pilots get the public behind aviation funding by selling it. The public then got on Congress. Barnstorming and air shows are just some of the things that they did and now do to meet that end. The masses aren’t going to rally behind a gadget that’s nothing more than a reusable guided rocket or bomb dispenser.
“Funding for new planes”
Fine. Through some reality into the dreamsicle! :)
That is by far the most significant barrier to unmanned vehicles of all sorts: Politics of pilots. They want to fly machines and they, for now although losing some clout, control the programs to develop new vehicles. I’m a pilot and would love to fly everything out there, but I am also an engineer and develop those unmanned systems. Ultimate capabilities are my goal.