In part it comes down to numbers.
1. How many drones can you actually afford to make, maintain, and monitor? The ocean is ultimately a very big place. I find it hard to believe that any nation is going to embrace full autonomy for its drones either, meaning there is always going to be a man in the loop somewhere.
2. If defense drones are successful, it would seem likely that manned subs just get replaced by an equal or greater number of attack drones.
P.S. I completely agree on the National Interest. Most of the articles are just reprints from other sources, some of which can be quite old. They also seem to pick the most sensationalist articles to reprint. I don't know how many times I have seen "System X is the best thing ever" article followed within days by a "System X is already outdated and a complete waste of time" article.
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