[throwup238]

These drones won't be that much cheaper. The life support isn't the most expensive part in high performance fighter jets, it's the airframe, sensors, and engine. The airframe will still have to have some sort of stealth and the engine will be similar to those in other fighters, especially if they're expected to be supersonic too.

[caycep]

Maybe some size reduction? I think they need to figure out just how big enough to carry enough fuel for range and weapons payload

[throwup238]

A single sidewinder is almost 200 pounds and GBU-31/32/38 JDAMs are 500-2,000 pounds each, so accounting for the pilot and ejection seat, you're only getting a small bomb's worth of weight.

Making them smaller significantly reduces the volume available for weapons, sensors, and fuel too much IMO. See the Predator, which doesn't have a large weapons loadout and still has the cockpit dome for the radar.