Tactical missiles are hideously expensive compared to dumb bombs, and have relatively small warheads. We could exhaust our entire submarine TLAM arsenal in a couple hours, while a CSG can do 12-on / 12-off flight ops for an extended period.

Missiles (and stealth) are good for disruption of key C2 and AD nodes ahead of the first manned wave, or special surprise attacks, but sustained combat ops (particularly involving ground forces) requires sustained air support...kind of hard to do that if you don't re-use the airplane. However costly you think F-18's are, one hornet can do the damage of many TLAMs in one sortie...and then RTB, refuel, re-arm and do it again day-in/day-out.

Drones could take over as "bomb dump trucks", especially with precision GPS guidance. But if GPS gets jammed (or the satellites shwacked), then your drone will need to vastly more sophisticated weapons delivery capabilities.