Summary/Abstract |
Today, many nations have hundreds of multi-mission, flexible fighter aircraft on their inventory. And now that aerial refuelling has become the norm for most advanced air forces, including the IAF, a multirole fighter can match the range of a strategic bomber. The other major advantage the bomber holds over the figher that of far greater weapons load, has also been reduced to some extent with the widespread availability of PGMs. Any major air force that has aerial refuelling capability and specialist PGMs can undertake strategic missions without inducting and risking prohibitively expensive bomber aircraft such as the American B-2A spirit or the Russian PAK-DA. Therefore, it seems unlikely that other nations will be tempted to acquire or produce strategic bomber aircraft.
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