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Yeah, but you can't sink Diego Garcia.

Just for grins I wonder what the real cost per kg of HE delivered is between the Air Force and the Navy. Factoring in the bombload of the aircraft, and the aircraft cost, cost of the carrier and it's battlegroup.

Kidding aside, as a former AF officer, I recognise every one has a roll to play. Navy air can operate independent of bases. It CAN'T haul the heavy iron and really pound the targets like the air force can. One Buff flying one sortie is like an entire Air Wing flying multiple sorties/ per plane.

One thing I would like to see is some consideration to develop a cheap bomber from a big commercial plane, like the 777 or 747. Think about it, for areas like Afghanistan, or Iraq once you have air supremacy, these big mothers could just stay on station at 30,000ft, get Air to Air refueling and drop their JDAMS or Smart Cluster bombs as tasked. No need for stealth, or ECM, untouchable by AAA, man pad missles. Lots and lots of bang for the buck. Hell, they could launch from CONUS and still do the job.

But it ain't sexy and would shake up the combat arms world.