Swarm “seagull” drones each packed with C4 explosive, programmed to enter any orifice on a carrier ( and there are many), themselves launched from a submarine based cruise missile, precisely guided to target, cannot be defended. Those gulls will only be the initial attack. Simply would no longer invest in large surface combatants or crew them with brave young people. The sad reality is that this new technology is so destabilizing to the current Pentagon infrastructure and vested priorities that the US itself is not developing these offensive capabilities against potential threats such as the big Chinese navy. The experience of your company is not the exception.
The find-an-opening is a really big ask given the current and probable short term future technology. Yes, it can be done, but not in the miniature scale required to mount it on a seagull sized (or anywhere close) drone. But given the rate of technical development it would occur within ten to fifteen years. You’re dead right about the entrenched interests. Big, expensive systems generate big profits and tiny, inexpensive systems aren’t wanted by the military, to whom the bigger the budget the higher the rank, or industry.