Gotta keep the COD flights…
The Air Force is gonna use its heavy bombers dropping long range GPS guided quickstrike mines. They proved so accurate in testing that when the divers went to recover them they found bombs touching each other when dropped to the same GPS coordinates from different flights that alone is amazing.
Then remember the B1B can carry 24 two thousand lb quickstrikes internally and 12 more if they use the external pylons that we stupidly signed away in a treaty that’s dead now so those points have been reactivated. Internally the B1B can carry 84 five hundred lb jdams which are the basis for quickstrike mines and probably use 6 packs in the external pylon points if they really wanted too like the F15 six pack.racks with 30” lug spacing those pylons are 8,000lb rated each on the B1B you could six pack 1000lbs or triple pack 2000lbs too. No other aircraft can tote such loads.
Of course if you are using the powered version of quickstrike then the B52 can come play and drop them from 300 miles out well outside the SAM umbrella of even the largest SAM systems.
There is a seeker package with datalink for the quicksink version of the JDAM where again the ER glide version dropped from FL400 goes 40nm then sinks a ship the powered versions are 300+ miles you can have 500,1000,2000lb versions here again the B1B brings at least 84x500 or 24x2000lbs to the parry. That is fleet sinking hardware. The 2000lb quicksink is aptly named it can sink an aircraft carrier sized ship in a single hit as it detonates under the keel like a torpedo and breaks the ships back. Smaller ships like a DDG or frigate are just obliterated there is no defense if it hits the water next to your waterline and detonates 30 meters deep you are dead.
Two B1B bring 48 ship killers to battle. Or 168 of the smaller ship killers the 500lbs make short work of frigates and DDGs no need for the absolute over kill of the 2000lb monsters. Adding in the external pylons only makes these into more ridiculously overkill machines.
No other nation has ever possessed this level of conventional warfare killing ability. Sure you can put tactical nukes on harpoon missiles or sunburns like the Russians have and kill whole fleets but then you just started Armageddon not a good look.
The B1B can carry harpoons so can the B52 internally and externally on the BUFF. It wouldn’t take much to wire the B1B pylons for harpoons they already carried the wires for the ALCM or tomahawk cruise missiles then again tomahawks come in an antiship version too. Also a nuke verison back when we had balls and made sure every missile we made had a nuke warhead that would fit it.
One of the former Seawolf pilots acquainted me with carrier aristocracy. He flew a helicopter on a carrier and found he held the lowest rank and could use whatever space anyone else didn’t want. He said landing on our LST was great training.
CVN-70