So, what should replace the F-35?

[Posteritatis]

75. And that's before the subjectives like rules of engagement and other shades of gray

All that in three dimensions with some pretty slim margins for decision-making time - very slim indeed, if you extrapolate this ahead a bit and assume that The Other Guy is developing similar technology - and it's definitely pretty far away from "all we have to do is X" to say the least.

A few friends and I have been fiddling with a pretty simple game AI for the last couple of years; that's constrained to a 2D plane with no terrain or atmospheric effects (to say nothing of politics, civilians, etc.), and even getting something that simple to behave reasonably well is some kind of nightmarish infinite Matrioshka doll where it's unexpected hurdles all the way down. Large companies with uncountably superior piles-o-resources than we've got aren't doing that much better in that department; humans still run circles around AI unless it's in a very, very constrained and highly specialized environment.

Anything near modern technology in actual combat situations in the atmosphere? It's not happening anytime soon. People who extrapolate chess-playing games to assume sapient AI is just around the corner don't have any idea what they're talking about, and are just getting their ideas from movies (or, worse, science journalism) in the first place.