Aircraft have poor capability to remain in an area.
I’m still not sold on range being all it’s cracked up to be. To date the longest ranged surface to surface missile launch hasn’t even come close to the maximum range of the missiles, and even then we’ve seen navies misidentifying ships just over the horizon and hitting civilian ships with missiles.
USVs can’t do the same peacetime missions that the fleet is constantly called upon.
Aircraft do not have to remain in an area if the only goal is strike, and more over I’d argue HALE type drones have an excellent ability to remain in an area if the goal is reconnaissance. What does the FAC add? Its broadside is too small to be useful and its sensor range too short to accomplish anything. Its reload time is measured in days or weeks.
As for OTH engagements - the ability to ID targets from a distance, or even orbit, has increased by leaps and bounds. Previous AShM from decades ago have little bearing on the situation. The fact is that the primary surface launched AShM of the USN is now tomahawk.
ETA: USVs do a huge amount of peacetime work; read up on task force 59 in the mid east and the huge variety of platforms it uses. USVs are hardly limited to floating bombs.
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