Has there been a bigger in warfare than UAVs since say the helicopter? It's simply amazing their explosion in capabilities the last 20 years or so. Real sci-fi stuff.

The concept has been around almost since aircraft we invented, quite possibly even before. The necessary technologies to create it (reliable electronics, miniturized cameras, computers, and broadband communications) finally arrived.

 

The Marines are becoming infamous for using COTS technology for slapping together good-enough solutions that embarrass the hell out of the Army because they still maintain a capacity for in-house engineering development like all the forces did before WWII. Most of the recent development debacles can be directly traced to a lack of personnel that understand the equipment that they are overseeing the development of.

Bwahahaha!  The Fighter Mafia must be torn - they hate the tedium of babysitting UAVs during 18 hour missions, yet they insist on having a fully trained pilot (and therefore O-pay grade) at the controls.  What a joke.  Automation, baby, with a pilot/operator ready to intervene is the only sensible way to go.