An optionally crewed fleet can send some aircraft into high-risk missions without placing a person in every cockpit. That complicates an opponent's effort to target crews and preserves the people who are harder to replace than airframes. Other aircraft could act as autonomous tankers, carrying fuel forward and returning without imposing endurance limits on a pilot. Remote control also introduces data-link delay, making a nearby crewed coordinator valuable when decisions must be made faster than a distant satellite connection permits.
Notable Point · 2:49:28-2:51:50
Optionally crewed aircraft can absorb risk and extend the strike
Optionally crewed aircraft can serve as expendable decoys, one-way attackers, tankers, and locally controlled partners that protect scarce aircrew.