Originally Posted by
SayAlt
They should just re-engine the Buff and call it good. Either that or just use cruise missiles. What am I missing (excluding the jackhole Pentagon lifers who never spent a day on the line in the air/on land/at sea)?
Bomb trucks like the BUFF are IMO the optimal solution once you have air superiority. Still need a few door kickers though.
Do we need nuclear bombers? Probably not at the cost. Submarines are probably the most expensive deterrent capability, but obviously the most survivable and hence the best deterrent.
Worth the cost? I don't know, assuming standard AF gross mismanagement and too-big-to-fail over-runs maybe not. But the bomber pork infrastructure needs a future, or else a lot of constituents will be unhappy...