A strategic bomber is a medium- to long-range penetration

bomber A bomber is a military combat aircraft that utilizes air-to-ground weaponry to drop bombs, launch aerial torpedo, torpedoes, or deploy air-launched cruise missiles. There are two major classifications of bomber: strategic and tactical. Strateg ...

aircraft designed to drop large amounts of air-to-ground weaponry onto a distant target for the purposes of debilitating the enemy's capacity to wage war. Unlike tactical bombers, penetrators,

fighter-bomber A fighter-bomber is a fighter aircraft that has been modified, or used primarily, as a light bomber or attack aircraft. It differs from bomber and attack aircraft primarily in its origins, as a fighter that has been adapted into other roles, wh ...

s, and

attack aircraft An attack aircraft, strike aircraft, or attack bomber is a tactical military aircraft that has a primary role of carrying out airstrikes with greater precision than bombers, and is prepared to encounter strong low-level air defenses while pr ...

, which are used in air interdiction operations to attack enemy combatants and military equipment, strategic bombers are designed to fly into enemy territory to destroy strategic targets (e.g.,

infrastructure Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and pri ...

logistics Logistics is the part of supply chain management that deals with the efficient forward and reverse flow of goods, services, and related information from the point of origin to the Consumption (economics), point of consumption according to the ...

, military installations, factories, etc.). In addition to

strategic bombing Strategic bombing is a systematically organized and executed military attack from the air which can utilize strategic bombers, long- or medium-range missiles, or nuclear-armed fighter-bomber aircraft to attack targets deemed vital to the enemy' ...

, strategic bombers can be used for tactical missions. There are currently only three countries that operate strategic bombers: the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. The modern strategic bomber role appeared after strategic bombing was widely employed, and atomic bombs were first used during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Nuclear strike missions (i.e., delivering

nuclear Nuclear may refer to: Physics Relating to the nucleus of the atom: *Nuclear engineering *Nuclear physics *Nuclear power *Nuclear reactor *Nuclear weapon *Nuclear medicine *Radiation therapy *Nuclear warfare Mathematics * Nuclear space *Nuclear ...

-armed

missile A missile is an airborne ranged weapon capable of self-propelled flight aided usually by a propellant, jet engine or rocket motor. Historically, 'missile' referred to any projectile that is thrown, shot or propelled towards a target; this ...

s or

bomb A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-transmitted mechan ...

s) can potentially be carried out by most modern

s and

strike fighter In current military parlance, a strike fighter is a multirole combat aircraft designed to operate both as an attack aircraft and as an air superiority fighter. As a category, it is distinct from fighter-bombers, and is closely related to the co ...

s, even at intercontinental range, with the use of

aerial refueling Aerial refueling ( en-us), or aerial refuelling ( en-gb), also referred to as air refueling, in-flight refueling (IFR), air-to-air refueling (AAR), and tanking, is the process of transferring aviation fuel from one aircraft (the tanker) to an ...

, so any nation possessing this combination of equipment and techniques theoretically has such capability. Primary delivery aircraft for a modern strategic bombing mission need not always necessarily be a

heavy bomber Heavy bombers are bomber Fixed-wing aircraft, aircraft capable of delivering the largest payload of air-to-ground weaponry (usually Aerial bomb, bombs) and longest range (aeronautics), range (takeoff to landing) of their era. Archetypal heavy ...

type, and any modern aircraft capable of nuclear strikes at long range is equally able to carry out tactical missions with conventional weapons. An example is

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

's Mirage IV, a small strategic bomber replaced in service by the ASMP-equipped Mirage 2000N

and Rafale multirole fighter.

History

First and Second World Wars

The first strategic bombing efforts took place during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

(1914–18), by the

ns with their Sikorsky Ilya Muromets bomber (the first heavy four-engine aircraft), and by the Germans using

Zeppelin A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship named after the German inventor Ferdinand von Zeppelin () who pioneered rigid airship development at the beginning of the 20th century. Zeppelin's notions were first formulated in 1874Eckener 1938, pp. 155� ...

s or long-range multi-engine

Gotha Gotha () is the fifth-largest city in Thuringia, Germany, west of Erfurt and east of Eisenach with a population of 44,000. The city is the capital of the district of Gotha and was also a residence of the Ernestine Wettins from 1640 until the ...

aircraft An aircraft ( aircraft) is a vehicle that is able to flight, fly by gaining support from the Atmosphere of Earth, air. It counters the force of gravity by using either Buoyancy, static lift or the Lift (force), dynamic lift of an airfoil, or, i ...

. Zeppelins reached

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

on bombing raids by 1916, forcing the British to create extensive defense systems including some of the first

anti-aircraft gun Anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) is the counter to aerial warfare and includes "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It encompasses surface-based, subsurface ( submarine-launched), and air-ba ...

s which were often used with searchlights to highlight the enemy machines overhead. Late in the war, American fliers under the command of Brig. Gen.

Billy Mitchell William Lendrum Mitchell (December 29, 1879 – February 19, 1936) was a United States Army officer who had a major role in the creation of the United States Air Force. Mitchell served in France during World War I and, by the conflict's end, ...

were developing multi-aircraft "mass" bombing missions behind German lines, although the

Armistice An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from t ...

ended full realization of what was being planned. Study of strategic bombing continued in the interwar years. Many books and articles predicted a fearful prospect for any future war, paced by political fears such as those expressed by British Prime Minister

Stanley Baldwin Stanley Baldwin, 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley (3 August 186714 December 1947), was a British statesman and Conservative politician who was prominent in the political leadership of the United Kingdom between the world wars. He was prime ministe ...

who told the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

early in the 1930s that " the bomber will always get through" no matter what defensive systems were undertaken. It was widely believed by the late 1930s that strategic "terror" bombing of cities in any war would quickly result in devastating losses and might decide a conflict in a matter of days or weeks. But theory far exceeded what most air forces could actually put into the air. Germany focused on short-range tactical bombers.

Britain Britain most often refers to: * Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales * The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

began developing four-engine long-range bombers only in the late 1930s. The U.S. Army Air Corps ( ''Army Air Forces'' as of mid-1941) was severely limited by small budgets in the late 1930s, and only barely saved the B-17 bomber that would soon be vital. The equally important B-24 first flew in 1939. Both aircraft would constitute the bulk of the bomber force for USAAF strategic bombing in Europe and Allied day bomber units more generally. At the start of

, so-called "strategic" bombing was initially carried out by

medium bomber A medium bomber is a military bomber Fixed-wing aircraft, aircraft designed to operate with medium-sized Aerial bomb, bombloads over medium Range (aeronautics), range distances; the name serves to distinguish this type from larger heavy bombe ...

which were typically twin-engined, armed with several defensive guns, but only possessed limited

-carrying capacity and

range Range may refer to: Geography * Range (geographic), a chain of hills or mountains; a somewhat linear, complex mountainous or hilly area (cordillera, sierra) ** Mountain range, a group of mountains bordered by lowlands * Range, a term used to i ...

. Both

and the US were developing larger two- and four-engined designs, which began to replace or supplement the smaller aircraft by 1941–42. After American entry into the war in December 1941, the U.S. 8th Air Force began to develop a daylight bombing capacity using improved B-17 and B-24 four-engine aircraft. In order to assemble the formations to carry out these bombing campaigns, assembly ships were used to quickly form defensive combat boxes. The RAF concentrated its efforts on night bombing. But neither force was able to develop adequate bombsights or tactics to allow for often-bragged "pinpoint" accuracy. The post-war U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey studies supported the overall notion of strategic bombing, but underlined many of its shortcomings as well. Attempts to create pioneering examples of " smart bombs" resulted in the Azon ordnance, deployed in the

European Theater The European theatre of World War II was one of the two main Theater (warfare), theatres of combat during World War II, taking place from September 1939 to May 1945. The Allies of World War II, Allied powers (including the United Kingdom, the ...

and CBI Theater from B-24s. Heinkel He 177A-02 in flight 1942

Following the untimely death of the top German advocate for strategic bombing, ''General'' Walther Wever in early June 1936, the focus of Nazi Germany's

Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...

bomber forces, the so-named '' Kampfgeschwader'' (bomber wings) became the battlefield support of the

German Army The German Army (, 'army') is the land component of the armed forces of Federal Republic of Germany, Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German together with the German Navy, ''Marine'' (G ...

as part of the general

Blitzkrieg ''Blitzkrieg'(Lightning/Flash Warfare)'' is a word used to describe a combined arms surprise attack, using a rapid, overwhelming force concentration that may consist of armored and motorized or mechanized infantry formations, together with ...

form of warfare, carried out with both medium bombers such as the

Heinkel He 111 The Heinkel He 111 is a German airliner and medium bomber designed by Siegfried and Walter Günter at Heinkel Flugzeugwerke in 1934. Through development, it was described as a wolf in sheep's clothing. Due to restrictions placed on Germany a ...

, and '' Schnellbombers'' such as the Junkers Ju 88A. Support for the Ural bomber project before the start of WW II dwindled after Wever's death, with the only aircraft design that could closely match the Allied bomber force's aircraft – the Heinkel He 177A, originated in early November 1937, deployed in its initial form in 1941–42, hampered by a RLM requirement for it to also perform medium-angle dive bombing, not rescinded until September 1942 – unable to perform either function properly, with a powerplant selection and particular powerplant installation design features on the 30-meter wingspan ''Greif'', that led to endless problems with engine fires. The trans-Atlantic ranged '' Amerika Bomber'' program started in March 1942 sought to ameliorate the lack of a long-range bomber for the ''Luftwaffe'', but led only to three Messerschmitt- and two

Junkers Junkers Flugzeug- und Motorenwerke AG (JFM, earlier JCO or JKO in World War I, English language, English: Junkers Aircraft and Motor Works) more commonly Junkers , was a major German aircraft manufacturer, aircraft and aircraft engine manufactu ...

-built prototypes ever flying, and no operational "heavy bombers" for strategic use for the Third Reich beyond the roughly one thousand He 177s built. By the end of the Second World War in 1945, the "heavy" bomber, epitomized by the British

Avro Lancaster The Avro Lancaster, commonly known as the Lancaster Bomber, is a British World War II, Second World War heavy bomber. It was designed and manufactured by Avro as a contemporary of the Handley Page Halifax, both bombers having been developed to ...

and American

Boeing B-29 Superfortress The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is a retired American four-engined propeller-driven heavy bomber, designed by Boeing and flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. Named in allusion to its predecessor, the Bo ...

used in the Pacific Theater, showed what could be accomplished by area bombing of Japan's cities and the often small and dispersed factories within them. Under Major General

Curtis LeMay Curtis Emerson LeMay (November 15, 1906 – October 1, 1990) was a United States Air Force, US Air Force General (United States), general who was a key American military commander during the Cold War. He served as Chief of Staff of the United St ...

, the U.S. 20th Air Force, based in the

Mariana Islands The Mariana Islands ( ; ), also simply the Marianas, are a crescent-shaped archipelago comprising the summits of fifteen longitudinally oriented, mostly dormant volcanic mountains in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, between the 12th and 21st pa ...

, undertook low-level

incendiary bomb Incendiary weapons, incendiary devices, incendiary munitions, or incendiary bombs are weapons designed to start fires. They may destroy structures or sensitive equipment using fire, and sometimes operate as anti-personnel weaponry. Incendiarie ...

ing missions, results of which were soon measured in the number of square miles destroyed. The

air raids on Japan During the Pacific War, Allies of World War II, Allied forces conducted air raids on Japan from 1942 to 1945, causing extensive destruction to the country's cities and killing between 241,000 and 900,000 people. During the first years of the Pa ...

had withered the nation's ability to continue fighting, although the Japanese government delayed surrender until atomic bombs were dropped on

Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui has b ...

and

Nagasaki , officially , is the capital and the largest Cities of Japan, city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. Founded by the Portuguese, the port of Portuguese_Nagasaki, Nagasaki became the sole Nanban trade, port used for tr ...

in August 1945.

The Cold War and its aftermath

During the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

, the United States and United Kingdom on one side and the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

on the other kept strategic bombers ready to take off on short notice as part of the deterrent strategy of

mutually assured destruction Mutual assured destruction (MAD) is a doctrine of military strategy and national security policy which posits that a full-scale use of nuclear weapons by an attacker on a nuclear-armed defender with second-strike capabilities would result in ...

(MAD). Most strategic bombers of the two

superpower Superpower describes a sovereign state or supranational union that holds a dominant position characterized by the ability to Sphere of influence, exert influence and Power projection, project power on a global scale. This is done through the comb ...

s were designed to deliver

nuclear weapon A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission or atomic bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear weapon), producing a nuclear exp ...

s. For a time, some squadrons of

Boeing B-52 Stratofortress The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress is an American long-range, subsonic aircraft, subsonic, jet-powered strategic bomber. The B-52 was designed and built by Boeing, which has continued to provide support and upgrades. It has been operated by the ...

bombers were kept in the air around the clock,

orbit In celestial mechanics, an orbit (also known as orbital revolution) is the curved trajectory of an object such as the trajectory of a planet around a star, or of a natural satellite around a planet, or of an artificial satellite around an ...

ing some distance away from their

fail-safe In engineering, a fail-safe is a design feature or practice that, in the event of a failure causes, failure of the design feature, inherently responds in a way that will cause minimal or no harm to other equipment, to the environment or to people. ...

points near the Soviet border. The British produced three different "

V bomber The "V bombers" were the Royal Air Force (RAF) aircraft during the 1950s and 1960s that comprised the Nuclear weapons and the United Kingdom, United Kingdom's strategic nuclear strike force known officially as the V force or Bomber Command Mai ...

s" for the

which were designed and designated to be able to deliver British-made nuclear bombs to targets in European Russia. These bombers would have been able to reach and destroy cities such as Kiev or Moscow before American strategic bombers. While they were never used against the Soviet Union or its allies, two V bomber types, the

Avro Vulcan The Avro Vulcan (later Hawker Siddeley Vulcan from July 1963) was a jet-powered, tailless, delta-wing, high-altitude, strategic bomber, which was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) from 1956 until 1984. Aircraft manufacturer A.V. Roe ...

and the

Handley Page Victor The Handley Page Victor was a British jet-powered strategic bomber developed and produced by Handley Page during the Cold War. It was the third and final ''V bomber'' to be operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF), the other two being the Vickers ...

, were used in the

Falklands War The Falklands War () was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British Overseas Territories, British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and Falkland Islands Dependenci ...

towards the end of their operational lives. The Soviet Union produced hundreds of unlicensed copies of the American

, which the

Soviet Air Forces The Soviet Air Forces (, VVS SSSR; literally "Military Air Forces of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics"; initialism VVS, sometimes referred to as the "Red Air Force") were one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Sovie ...

called the Tupolev Tu-4. The Soviets later developed the jet-powered Tupolev Tu-16 "Badger". The People's Republic of China produced a version of Tupolev Tu-16 on license from the Soviet Union in the 1960s, which they named the Xian H-6. During the 1960s France produced its

Dassault Mirage IV The Dassault Mirage IV is a French supersonic strategic bomber and deep-reconnaissance aircraft. Developed by Dassault Aviation, the aircraft entered service with the French Air Force in October 1964. For many years it was a vital part of the ...

nuclear-armed bomber for the

French Air Force The French Air and Space Force (, , ) is the air force, air and space force of the French Armed Forces. Formed in 1909 as the ("Aeronautical Service"), a service arm of the French Army, it became an independent military branch in 1934 as the Fr ...

as a part of its independent nuclear strike force, the '' Force de Frappe'', using French-made bombers and IRBMs to deliver French-made

s. Mirage IVs served until mid-1996 in the bomber role, and to 2005 as

reconnaissance aircraft A reconnaissance aircraft (colloquially, a spy plane) is a military aircraft designed or adapted to perform aerial reconnaissance with roles including collection of imagery intelligence (including using Aerial photography, photography), signals ...

. The French Republic limited its strategic armaments to a squadron of four

nuclear-powered Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced b ...

ballistic missile submarines A ballistic missile submarine is a submarine capable of deploying submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) with nuclear warheads. These submarines became a major weapon system in the Cold War because of their deterrence theory, nuclear ...

, with 16

SLBM A submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) is a ballistic missile capable of being launched from submarines. Modern variants usually deliver multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRVs), each of which carries a nuclear warhead ...

tubes apiece. France also maintains an active force of supersonic

s carrying ASMP stand-off nuclear

s, with

Mach The Mach number (M or Ma), often only Mach, (; ) is a dimensionless quantity in fluid dynamics representing the ratio of flow velocity past a Boundary (thermodynamic), boundary to the local speed of sound. It is named after the Austrian physi ...

3 speed and a range of 500 kilometers. These missiles can be delivered by the Dassault Mirage 2000N and Rafale

s; the Rafale is also capable of refueling others in flight using a buddy refueling pod. Newer strategic bombers such as the

Rockwell B-1 Lancer The Rockwell B-1 Lancer is a supersonic variable-sweep wing, heavy bomber used by the United States Air Force. It has been nicknamed the "Bone" (from "B-One"). , it is one of the United States Air Force's three strategic bombers, along with t ...

, the

Tupolev Tu-160 The Tupolev Tu-160 (; NATO reporting name: Blackjack) is a supersonic, variable-sweep wing nuclear-capable heavy strategic bomber and airborne missile platform designed by the Tupolev Design Bureau in the Soviet Union in the 1970s. The aircra ...

, and the Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit designs incorporate various levels of

stealth technology Stealth technology, also termed low observable technology (LO technology), is a sub-discipline of military tactics and passive and active electronic countermeasures. The term covers a range of military technology, methods used to make personnel ...

in an effort to avoid detection, especially by

radar Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...

networks. Despite these advances earlier strategic bombers, for example the B-52 last manufactured in 1962 and the

Tupolev Tu-95 The Tupolev Tu-95 (; NATO reporting name: "Bear") is a large, four-engine turboprop-powered strategic bomber and missile platform. Maiden flight, First flown in 1952, the Tu-95 entered service with the Soviet Long Range Aviation, Long-Range Avia ...

, remain in service and can also deploy the latest air-launched

cruise missile A cruise missile is an unmanned self-propelled guided missile that sustains flight through aerodynamic lift for most of its flight path. Cruise missiles are designed to deliver a large payload over long distances with high precision. Modern cru ...

s and other " stand-off" or precision guided weapons such as the JASSM and the JDAM. The

Russian Air Force The Russian Air Force () is a branch of the Russian Aerospace Forces, the latter being formed on 1 August 2015 with the merging of the Russian Air Force and the Russian Aerospace Defence Forces. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the reb ...

's new Tu-160M2 strategic bombers are expected to be delivered on a regular basis over the course of 10 to 20 years. The Tu-95 and Tu-160 bombers will be periodically updated, as was done during the 1990s with the Tu-22M bombers. Strategic bombers of the

were primarily armed with nuclear weapons. During the post-1940s Indochina Wars, and also since the end of the Cold War, modern bombers originally intended for strategic use have been exclusively employed using non-nuclear,

high explosive An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An exp ...

weapons. During the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

, Operation Menu, Operation Freedom Deal,

Gulf War , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...

, military action in Afghanistan, and the 2003 invasion of Iraq, American B-52s and B-1s were mostly employed in tactical roles. During the Soviet-Afghan war in 1979–88,

Tu-22Ms carried out several mass air raids in various regions of

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

Notable strategic bombers

Nomenclature

Bombers listed below were used in the main or represented a shift in long-range bomber design (Maximum bomb load). In practice, bomb loads carried are dependent on factors such as the distance to target and the individual type, size or weight of bombs used. Nomenclature for size classification of aircraft types used in

varies, particularly since the time of World War II due to sequential technological advancements and changes in

aerial warfare Aerial warfare is the use of military aircraft and other flying machines in warfare. Aerial warfare includes bombers attacking tactical bombing, enemy installations or a concentration of enemy troops or Strategic bombing, strategic targets; fi ...

strategy and tactics. The

B-29 The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is a retired American four-engined Propeller (aeronautics), propeller-driven heavy bomber, designed by Boeing and flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. Named in allusion to ...

, for example was a benchmark aircraft of the

type at end of

due to its size, range and load carrying ability; as the

began, it became an intercontinental

strategic bomber with the development of new techniques, such as

(which also greatly extended the range of other medium- to long-range

s and

). During the 1950s the U.S.

Strategic Air Command Strategic Air Command (SAC) was a United States Department of Defense Specified Command and a United States Air Force (USAF) Major Command responsible for command and control of the strategic bomber and intercontinental ballistic missile compon ...

also briefly brought back the outdated term "

" to distinguish its

Boeing B-47 Stratojet The Boeing B-47 Stratojet (Boeing company designation Model 450) is a retired American long- range, six-engined, turbojet-powered strategic bomber designed to fly at high subsonic speed and at high altitude to avoid enemy interceptor aircraft ...

s from somewhat larger contemporary

s" in bombardment wings; older

and B-50

s were also redesignated as "medium" during this period. SAC's

nomenclature Nomenclature (, ) is a system of names or terms, or the rules for forming these terms in a particular field of arts or sciences. (The theoretical field studying nomenclature is sometimes referred to as ''onymology'' or ''taxonymy'' ). The principl ...

here was purely semantic and bureaucratic, however as both the B-47 and B-52 strategic bombers were much larger and had far greater performance and load-carrying ability than any of the World War II-era heavy or medium bombers. Other aircraft such as the twin- jet US FB-111, Douglas A-3 Skywarrior and

had nominal warloads of less than , and were significantly smaller in size and gross weight compared with their strategic bomber contemporaries, based on which they might be classified as

s. In the

strike role, France would replace its Mirage IVs beginning in the late 1980s with the even smaller, single-engine Mirage 2000N

, a further example of advancing technologies and changing tactics in

military aviation Military aviation is the design, development and use of military aircraft and other flying machines for the purposes of conducting or enabling aerial warfare, including national airlift (air cargo) capacity to provide military logistics, logist ...

and aircraft design. France's newer twin-engine

Dassault Rafale The Dassault Rafale (, literally meaning "gust of wind", or "burst of fire" in a more military sense) is a French Twinjet, twin-engine, Canard (aeronautics), canard delta wing, Multirole combat aircraft, multirole fighter aircraft designed and ...

multirole fighter also has

strike capability.

World War I

* Caproni Ca.1 * Caproni Ca.3 () * Gotha G.IV () * Zeppelin Staaken R.VI () *

(about ) * Handley Page Type O () * Handley Page V/1500 () * Sikorsky Ilya Muromets ()

Interwar/World War II

* Boeing YB-9 (prototype strategic bomber, inspiration for the B-17) * Martin B-10 (successors B-17 and B-24 therefore and theoretically the first strategic bomber of the USAAF at that time despite being a medium bomber.) *

Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is an American four-engined heavy bomber aircraft developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). A fast and high-flying bomber, the B-17 dropped more bombs than any other aircraft during ...

() (theoretical maximum: ) *

Consolidated B-24 Liberator The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some initial production aircraft were laid down as export models desi ...

() *

() (maximum of (2 Grand Slams)) * Consolidated B-32 Dominator () * Handley Page Halifax ()for the Mark III *

() * Short Stirling () * Farman F.220 () * Heinkel He 177 () *

Petlyakov Pe-8 The Petlyakov Pe-8 () was a Soviet heavy bomber designed before World War II, and the only four-engine bomber the USSR built during the war. Produced in limited numbers, it was used to bomb Berlin in August 1941. It was also used for so-called " ...

() * Piaggio P.108 ()

Cold War

Weapons loads can include

-armed

s as well as

aerial bomb An aerial bomb is a type of Explosive weapon, explosive or Incendiary device, incendiary weapon intended to travel through the Atmosphere of Earth, air on a predictable trajectory. Engineers usually develop such bombs to be dropped from an aircra ...

s * Reciprocating/

Turbine A turbine ( or ) (from the Greek , ''tyrbē'', or Latin ''turbo'', meaning vortex) is a rotary mechanical device that extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into useful work. The work produced can be used for generating electrical ...

engine **

North American AJ Savage The North American AJ Savage (later A-2 Savage) is an American carrier-based aircraft, carrier-based medium bomber built for the United States Navy by North American Aviation. The aircraft was designed shortly after World War II to carry atomic ...

() **

Lockheed P-2 Neptune The Lockheed P-2 Neptune (designated P2V by the United States Navy prior to September 1962) is a Maritime patrol aircraft, maritime patrol and anti-submarine warfare (ASW) aircraft. It was developed for the US Navy by Lockheed Corporation, Lockh ...

– small number converted as carrier-launched nuclear-armed bombers which would have to ditch/recover at land bases ** Boeing B-50 Superfortress () **

Convair B-36 Peacemaker The Convair B-36 "Peacemaker" is a strategic bomber built by Convair and operated by the United States Air Force (USAF) from 1949 to 1959. The B-36 is the largest mass-produced piston-engined aircraft ever built, although it was exceeded in spa ...

() ** Tupolev Tu-4 – reverse-engineered version of B-29 Superfortress **

() **

Avro Lincoln The Avro Type 694 Lincoln is a British four-engined heavy bomber, which maiden flight, first flew on 9 June 1944. Developed from the Avro Lancaster, the first Lincoln variants were initially known as the Lancaster IV and V; these were renamed L ...

() *

Jet engine A jet engine is a type of reaction engine, discharging a fast-moving jet (fluid), jet of heated gas (usually air) that generates thrust by jet propulsion. While this broad definition may include Rocket engine, rocket, Pump-jet, water jet, and ...

** North American B-45 Tornado () **

() ** Douglas A-3 Skywarrior – nuclear-armed, carrier-based **

() ** Myasishchev M-4 () ** Tupolev Tu-16 () **

Vickers Valiant The Vickers Valiant was a British high-altitude jet bomber designed to carry nuclear weapons, and in the 1950s and 1960s was part of the Royal Air Force's " V bomber" strategic deterrent force. It was developed by Vickers-Armstrongs in respon ...

() **

() ** Xian H-6 () *

Supersonic Supersonic speed is the speed of an object that exceeds the speed of sound (Mach 1). For objects traveling in dry air of a temperature of 20 °C (68 °F) at sea level, this speed is approximately . Speeds greater than five times ...

Convair B-58 Hustler The Convair B-58 Hustler, designed and produced by American aircraft manufacturer Convair, was the first operational bomber capable of Mach 2 flight. The B-58 was developed during the 1950s for the United States Air Force (USAF) Strategic Air ...

() ** General Dynamics FB-111A – strategic bomber version of the F-111 swing wing strike aircraft ** North American A-5 Vigilante – nuclear-armed, carrier-based (only deployed for a brief period in strategic nuclear strike role for which it was originally designed before transitioning to reconnaissance role) **

( – use of external hardpoints restricted by

START I START I (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) was a bilateral treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union on the reduction and the limitation of strategic offensive arms. The treaty was signed on 31 July 1991 and entered into force on 5 De ...

) **

() **

Tupolev Tu-22M The Tupolev Tu-22M (; NATO reporting name: Backfire) is a supersonic, variable-sweep wing, long-range strategic and maritime strike bomber developed by the Tupolev, Tupolev Design Bureau in the 1960s. The bomber was reported as being designated ...

Backfire () **

Blackjack () **

Tupolev Tu-22 The Tupolev Tu-22 ( Air Standardization Coordinating Committee name: Blinder) was the first supersonic bomber to enter production in the Soviet Union. Manufactured by Tupolev, the Tu-22 entered service with Long-Range Aviation and Soviet Nav ...

Blinder () ** Dassault Mirage 2000N ** others designed and built which did not enter operational service: ***

North American XB-70 Valkyrie The North American Aviation XB-70 Valkyrie is a retired prototype version of the planned nuclear-armed, deep-penetration supersonic strategic bomber for the United States Air Force Strategic Air Command. Designed in the late 1950s by North A ...

*** Myasishchev M-50 Bounder *** Sukhoi T-4 Sotka *** BAC TSR-2 B-52H Stratofortress bombers fly over the Pacific Ocean

Post Cold War

() * Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit () *

() *

() * Xian H-6 ()

Future

* Xian H-20. An under-development stealth bomber by China. Planned to be deployed in 2025. *

Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider The Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider is an American strategic bomber in development for the United States Air Force (USAF) by Northrop Grumman. Part of the Long Range Strike Bomber (LRS-B) program, it is to be a stealth aircraft, stealth interconti ...

. An under-development stealth bomber by the United States, with a goal of supplanting the current Rockwell B-1 Lancer and Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit. * Tupolev PAK DA. An under-development stealth bomber by Russia, with a goal of supplanting a portion or all of the current Tupolev Tu-95. Planned to be deployed in 2027.

References

* Brown, Michael E. Flying Blind: The Politics of the U.S. Strategic Bomber Program. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1992. * Cross, Robin. The Bombers: The Illustrated Story of Offensive Strategy and Tactics in the Twentieth Century. New York: Macmillan, 1987. * Green, William. Famous Bombers of the Second World War. New York: Doubleday, 1959, 1960 (two vols). * Green, William. Warplanes of the Third Reich. New York: Doubleday, 1970. * Haddow, G. W., and Peter M. Grosz The German Giants: The German R-Planes 1914–1918. London: Putnam, 1969 (2nd ed.) * Hastings, Max. Bomber Command. New York: Dial Press, 1979 * Jones, Lloyd S. U.S. Bombers 1926 to 1980s. Fallbrook, CA: Aero Publishers, 1980 (3rd ed.) * Neillands, Robin. The Bomber War: The Allied Offensive Against Nazi Germany. Woodstock, NY: Overlook, 2001. * Robinson, Douglas H. The Zeppelin in Combat: A History of the German Naval Airship Division, 1912–1918. Atglen, PA: Schiffer, 1994. * United States Strategic Bombing Survey. Over-all Report (European War). Washington: Government Printing Office, September 30, 1945. {{authority control Bomber aircraft Russian inventions Strategic bombers

History

First and Second World Wars

The Cold War and its aftermath

Notable strategic bombers

Nomenclature

World War I

Interwar/World War II

Cold War

Post Cold War

Future

See also

References