>>64127530 (OP)
If anything, we’re in a gravity bomb renaissance. The GBU-39 and JSOW massively increase the capability of non-powered bombs, Every report I’ve read on the GBU-39 seems to suggest that the program has massively outperformed expectations, and it outranges the vast majority of tactical precision weapons (hellfire, maverick, jdam) while also being almost 100% payload by weight and requiring virtually zero “airframe infastructure” (unlike weapons like cruise missiles which require large and high-capacity hardpoints, or weapons like mavericks, which require baseline avoinics), allowing even planes designed 100% for air superiority like the F-22 to extremely effectively carry them with minimal modification. We just saw one of the most historic gravity bomb strikes in the past couple of decades on Iran, and the US has made over 1,000 stealth capable bomb-dropping planes in the last decade thanks to the F-35 program wrapping up its teething issues and becoming the new F-16 in terms of production speed. The CEP of GPS INS weapons has been slowly decreasing since the gulf war to the point where they can be effectively used against individual stationary vehicles and troop positions with ease (Targets which used to require a laser or at least electro optical acquisition) and the JSOW Is at the very least low observable, and whatever replaces it will probably be stealthy if the LRASM/JASSM program continues to find success. Suddenly, every NATO country has access to multi roles that can fly right past S-300s and drop bombs without facing historic dangers, and suddenly the United States is churning out extremely long ranged and accurate gravity bombs that can be dropped even by third or fourth generation fighters from the edges of air defense pockets. There hasn’t been a better time for the gravity bomb since the invention of CCIP.
