Is South Korea's drone carrier the future of light aviation?

Does South Korea's move from a light STOVL carrier to a drone carrier show the future of light naval aviation?

The idea merits watching, but communications requirements and repeated design changes make firm conclusions premature.

Drone operations at useful range depend on resilient communications, potentially including national satellite capacity or relay aircraft. Maintaining coverage over an operating area may require several satellites or airborne relay drones. South Korea's carrier concept had changed from a conventional-looking design to STOVL and then drones under competing political pressures. Even the choice between a flat deck and a ski jump remained unsettled. Combining catapults with a ski jump is raised as another possibility. Project Ark Royal provides a related example: lightweight electromagnetic launch equipment proposed for Queen Elizabeth-class carriers could support assisted drone takeoffs. The Korean concept's eventual configuration remained too uncertain to establish a settled model for light naval aviation.