But, a counter argument to that is that your adversary can simply launch a wall of 20 drones with one A2A missile for every of your F-35, and 20 more to bomb its airfield, and still win attrition-wise.
If prices for drones will continue to drop at the current pace, soon they will become near disposable by standards of military hardware.
Ok, but nobody can actually field that many drones (remember it's not just the craft, it's pilot, tech ground support, comms, rads, networks, etc.) especially in a scenario they are not suited for, and, it's not as though the F35's wouldn't also be supported by drones and other support.
We know the 1st wave will be done-on-drone for sure ...
... but the idea Russia is going to be able to man and send up 400 drones (!) for even a single opposing squadron is just far fetched.
40 drones out over the Black Sea? Maybe. But again, as they are 'slow lumbering targets' they will be mopped up pretty quick by a single squadron of F35 and whatever other ground/naval forces are in the region.
Every drone in the air facing a capable enemy is basically on a suicide mission.
This can be fixed with new, smaller anti drone AA missiles. One doesn't need a full Sidewinder missile to blow up a drone. Even purely kinetic missiles without an explosive charge are usable on smaller drones.
There are already many ground based anti drone platforms such as Rafael Systems' Drone Done which can be installed on a pickup truck. If Armenia had any of those, they woulld have had an advantage in the recent war with Azerbaidjan.
But, a counter argument to that is that your adversary can simply launch a wall of 20 drones with one A2A missile for every of your F-35, and 20 more to bomb its airfield, and still win attrition-wise.
If prices for drones will continue to drop at the current pace, soon they will become near disposable by standards of military hardware.