If Lotering won't survive then add High Altitude Drone to question my assertion. Then add a replacement rate theory to shift the goal post.
Simply answer Yes or no. Will drones be able to survive highly contested Skies maned by ground forces with Air defence cover?
The USA has refused to provide Ukraine help for the very same reasons I mentioned a few years ago.
A drone capable of targeting and delivering an effective package with precision costs around 1000 USD. The package itself is tailor-made. Then comes the operator or operating infrastructure. Then comes the visibility, stealth noise and speed at which it will occur to the forces. The ground-based towed electronic jammers will be enough to burn their electronics.
One of my posts coincidentally saw the same change of strategy by the Russians to use small artillery or big mortar attacks becoming a mainstay to soften Ukrainian defences are the only archaic yet practical option to support kinetic action. The use of the Air Force however changes everything especially if founded upon establishing air superiority/supremacy.
Anything that flies high enough to be distinguishable from ground clutter and tree cover, will get shot down by a decent air defence net.
So HALE,MALE etc are useless in war, except as naval platforms for anti sub roles near your own coast (within 100km of your coast) as naval AD is rather thin compared to land AD.
However, loitering drones are very good, as they are low flying, low cost. Less likelyhood of being shot, less loss if shot down.
CAS is still the best way to do air support, with helis and attack aircraft. However, the loss of those platforms is a big blow and they take time to train on. Drones are similar to mk=obile games so its easier to train for those.