> We're going to be caught with our pants down with B52s as the stains on our underwear.
Meanwhile: their entire imported food and oil supply has been easily blockaded by ancient, conventional systems.
> observe the F4
Isn't there a truism that the F4 demonstrates that with big enough engines, you can get any lump of junk up into the air ?
The way I heard it, ‘with enough power, even a brick will fly’
The Vietnam era is totally different. LeMay and Powers were sociopaths whose goal was to nuke things and intercept things that would nuke the US. Survivability wasn’t really a consideration - assuming you finished nuking the Soviets, there would be nothing to return to.
The needs of Vietnam required different tactics, and the airmen paid in blood for the myopic vision of the leaders.
The B52 role was to have wings (and nuclear bombs) in the air constantly over the arctic to act as a deterrent. The only way that idea could attempt to survive out of the 50's is if they (or one of them) were < hour from a target at all times. They're huge, they flew slow, and their flight path didn't change much. The whole multi-decade mission was a huge waste of money; a stage drama.
The B52 also became a heavy bomber in Vietnam, with incredibly heavy loses. The Air Force in general in Vietnam was a shit show -- observe the F4.
It's only when you have air superiority can you dredge up a B52 to deliver a payload.
These are not winning strategies in a war that would start today by an adversary like China. We're going to be caught with our pants down with B52s as the stains on our underwear.