I can see a fighter of the future having a crew of two, linked to and controlling a series of drones, some for recon/surveillance of air and other targets, some for attack/air superiority purposes. The fighter may not even actually be in combat itself if the 'drone cloud' is managed properly and is enough to counter the threats it faces, however onboard AIs would help control drones closer to the target and more seamlessly respond to threats uploaded to the control network by drones and longer range radars/other fighters. Information sharing between fighters and their drones and from fighter to tighter would allow transfer of threat data as they shifted into the 'zone' of adjacent fighters and uploading of threat information and assessment to more centralized data centers giving a more comprehensive picture of the conflict space.
Stealth, speed, maneuverability, are of course factors as well, along with ECM hardening and offensive ECM capability which could be tasked to drones.
Just mho, and I'm probably behind the times.