Quote Originally Posted by slapout9 View Post
It is the "function" that is obsolete...carrying the "Strike" aircraft... that can fly anywhere in the world on it's own.
That has been true for many decades though - since the 1950's if not before.

The problem with long-range strike aircraft, though, is flight time. A long flight time works ok for static targets (fixed facilities), but becomes problematic for moving targets. Secondly, a long flight time means there is a decreased response time. Third, a long flight time means you need more aircraft to generate an equivalent number of sorties.

Finally, you still need other aircraft besides strike aircraft and many of those are, by necessity, short range.

Added: The range/response problem is why conventionally-armed ICBM's (called "prompt global strike") were considered for a time - of course those come with a lot of baggage