I see two major evolutions that will end the era of fighter jet airborne pilots.

The first is remotely controlled aircraft. They may very well be full, expensive jet aircraft. But they would only need to be big enough to carry their main munitions. Ground based “pilots” could “fly” the craft. The craft can be supported by off-board sensors (rather than having their own complex radar/sensors). The performance of an unstaffed aircraft can be far higher than a staffed aircraft. Rather than a single jet with a high payload, the focus could be on a group of smaller jets with smaller payloads. They are NOT cheap $1m planes. But they might be $10-20m vs the $100m F35.

The second is smarter and smarter ground based anti-aircraft. The technology will improve. Accuracy will improve. Maybe in 5 years, maybe in 25 years, all aircraft will be completely vulnerable to lower cost anti-aircraft defense systems. They can already shoot down missiles. They will get better at shooting down planes - may even be guided by ground operators. At that point, it is a fundamental strategic shift on the use of air power.

Eventually, a force of unstaffed planes is sent to attack a country guarded by ground-based anti-aircraft/missile defense systems, and it comes down to either has the most money - or an ongoing technology race.