[USAF80]

There is nothing like seeing a BUFF raining 500 pounders.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGLgZ8htLI4

I say just make a modern version of the B52. As a cruise missile platform you can stay outside of an enemy's air defense radius and just saturate them with Tomahawks.

[SauronOfMordor]

If all you need is a cruise missile launch platform, why not just give a C-5 Galaxy a means to eject missiles out of its cargo bay?

[PreciousLiberty]

“There is nothing like seeing a BUFF raining 500 pounders.”

The B-1 is capable of carrying a heavier ordinance load than the B-52, is much stealthier, and can arrive where needed almost twice as fast. Further, bombs are far less expensive than cruise missiles. We must be cost conscious these days. ;-)

In many situations a X-47B type autonomous bomber would work fine as well. It’s essentially a reusable stealthy cruise missile that can hit multiple targets per mission.