Former Shadow 200 TUAV from the US Army pilot here. Not only are fully automated landings feasible, they are happening in practice. The Shadow has a piece of equipment called the T.A.L.S. (Tactical Automated Landing System). Landing a shadow (I did this in Iraq as well mind you) involved aligning the AV in a small box on the screen which turned it green. Provided the airspeed was right and crosswinds were in tolerance, you click the "Land AV" button and the landing is 100% hands off. If at any point during the tals auto-landing something looks off, you push the abort button which powers the engines to full, gains altitude, and lets you circle around to try again. This tech is around and battle tested.
My thought on why the predator / reaper aren't is simply so an officer can go through flight school and get his cool flight wings in the USAF. There is no good technical reason as far as I know landings can't be fully automated with larger UAVs.
My thought on why the predator / reaper aren't is simply so an officer can go through flight school and get his cool flight wings in the USAF. There is no good technical reason as far as I know landings can't be fully automated with larger UAVs.