Future of autonomous flight comes into focus at Farnborough Airshow

Not necessarily. They can be programmed to be radar jammers that just fly in formation or missile mules to carry more missiles or other weapons that again just fly a fixed formation set apart from the manned aircraft. These aren't supposed to be dogfighters, they're co-fighters. The original name for the program was "Loyal Wingman" and that's what they're supposed to be, someone (thing) to watch your six, carry extra weapons, be a decoy, etc.. They may ground controlled or controlled by the manned aircraft depending on the situation and mission.
Just to clear things up, I was a grunt for just under a year, and a tanker for just over 2 years. The rest of my life I've been immersed in aviation. My Dad was an airline and corporate pilot and I grew up in and around airplanes and I've been around them most of my life since. I keep up on this stuff like some guys follow sports scores. Airplanes, armor and military history are my big things.

Your wait is over, there are a number of them already flying. All single engine, mostly small light aircraft, but they're getting bigger and fast. Right now, batteries are the limiting factor for range, but I expect that hurdle to be overcome in the not too distant future.

I suspect that when they say autonomous they mean AI controlled.