Both, in terms of manned aircraft technology, we are reaching a
point where improving the basic concept of a manned aircraft is a
very bad case of diminishing returns. The aircraft can do a lot but
the human in the system is a great limiting factor.
Sooner or later we'll realize that it's far cheaper and effective
to take the pilot out of the plane altogether. Unhindered by a
mortal human, a UCAV is limited only by the strength of its
materials and processing power, capable of doing things that manned
aircraft can only dream of. In fact, there's really little
distinction between a UCAV and a cruise missile except that the
UCAV returns to base.
Why risk man and machine (esp. man) in a slow, limited expensive
machine encumbered with so much equipment just to keep the meat
(which is already at the peak of human endurance) alive to fire a
few missiles, snap a few photos and drop a few bombs when robot
planes can do it with far lower cost and risk and with a far
greater preformance as well?
