Jenkins

This is unfortunately one of the gripes of playing on a public server, the Invade and Annex mission is designed in a way that gives players freedom to do their own thing, whether it be lone-wolfing a side objective, storming buildings at the AO with a friend or working as part of a larger team during a Zeus created mission. This is what I believe gives I&A it's charm... Teamwork is only encouraged, NOT enforced.
 
The only suggestion I can make is to ensure you continue to announce your presence over side channel or jump onto the Teamspeak server during the busier hours for a more likely chance of some team-play.
 
This issue has been discussed soo many times in the past and I personally believe that the current system for UAV operators works just fine. I've witnessed first hand how often this system can be abused when no one is around to moderate it and I'm really not a fan of it.
 
Lasers on the Greyhawk were removed to limit their abuse but it was eventually decided to add Darter mini-UAVs to allow operators to do their thing manually at the expense of time/speed (the time it takes to deploy the system and get into position.) Which so far, has worked out just as effective as the old system.
 
I'm aware of the "bug" that positions the laser off-center above the target, but as for the rest of your statement... I'd say that is down to user-error.
 
Example:-  Here is a quick work-around for the issue you described.
 - Position UAVs in a way that they are unable to become targets and get shot at. (Like hard-cover, defilade or at a distance outside effective range of the enemy)
 - Wait until enemy anti-air assets are neutralized before setting up
 - If all else fails, only expose the UAVs to enemy contact for a short time to reduce the likelihood of being shot-down. (Target lase from a distance, move into range, drop bombs, exfil.)
 
Personally, as long as I have followed any one of the three above examples I have rarely experienced any issue of losing drones apart from the occasional patrolling enemy jet and I'm sure many other regulars could join me in agreement.
 
Hope this helps provide some clarity and context. Additionally, once the new version of I&A4 is released this will no longer be an issue as the UAV operator role is removed entirely and replaced by a new system. But for the time being, I find the current system satisfactory.