- Drop the drones from a larger aircraft (e.g. Xi'an Y-20).
- Computer vision is incredibly cheap and small in 2021 (particularly "hit this giant thing that looks like a warship").
Western military thinking is obsessed with ever advancing technological solutions (with high associated costs/limited numbers). But "massing," be it small boats or small aircraft/drones defeats it consistently. Good enough is often good enough.
No matter how good your technological advantage is, it can never be in two/four/six places at once and that $1M smart defensive missile can only shoot down so many incoming targets.
That's why the US's nuclear defense was ultimately MAD, because Russia simply built tons of dumb/cheap nukes that overwhelmed anything the US could shoot down even assuming the perfect defensive platform. If the defense is 10x or 100x the cost/space/complexity, you'll win the mass war every time.
We need more Embraer Super Tucanos and less F-35s, because an F-35 can never be in eight places at once no matter how advanced it is, same logic with cheap & small Vs. expensive & large warships. Warships need more computer controlled guns that shoot big bullets and less smart missiles that take up 100x the space, 100x the cost, and thus you get 100x less supply.
A drone is an Embraer Super Tucano on steroids, because now you've reduced the pilot cost/limitation. The fact that the US doesn't already have offensive/defensive drone swarms means they're asleep at the wheel.