I'd think drones are the future, if not already here like you say. I vaguely remember several years ago watching a documentary on one of the retired skunkworks engineers, he had worked on the stealth technology going back in the early 70's. That's almost 50 years ago. I can't imagine what they have working on the boards today?
I remember a few years ago some research (in the public domain) on articulated surfaces. Basically think of a bird and the way they manipulate their wings to do a 90 degree turn or dive bomb for pray. I guesstimate that we have some really high fliers at all times, probably even refueling stations floating up there powered by solar or aided by Helium.
The last order by Obama to bomb Isis using stealth bombers was a pretty breath taking executed mission. Basically bombers flew 32 hours, bombed target, never landed for anything, fueling mid air (which is old news) a couple of times and came home.
https://www.popularmechanics.com/mi...-back-inside-obamas-last-strike-against-isis/
