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"…is this how a superpower, suffering relative economic decline, keeps up its global power projection at a reasonable cost.(?)"
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IMHO, no. I think very much more needs to be made in improving the efficiency of military systems acquisition (all services) if we're going to keep "power projection at a reasonable cost".
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"…the enemy always has a vote, and geography and geopolitics matter."
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This is a compelling quote, but as with many USNI articles, stones thrown at existing paradigms don't necessarily give solutions.
The mission sets that currently require a fully manned/womanned air wing are likely to be with us at least long enough to make re-tooling the industrial base and re-educating the NCA to a world of strictly (or predominantly) unmanned technology (or technology dependent on the yet-to-be-tested F35 VSTOL airframe embarked in a yet-to-be-tested LHA-6 platform) a very high risk venture. The Navy is doing more and more with unmanned resources (air, surface, and subsurface) just as are the other services. The technology that utilizes precision strike munitions is evolving well also. This is all very good, but it's not good enough to merit throwing the baby out with the bath water.
I found the string that follows the linked article good commentary (pro and con (mostly con)) on the position CAPT Hendrix & LTC Williams propose, and I invite readers to look at them.
Thanks for the post, sir.