Very interesting post, sidis, think we must first decide on just what
the primary mission of our CVG's is or are. The 1961 whale could
indeed go out 2000 miles, drop an internally carried payload of 12000
lbs and have enough fuel to return. This hop would have to be
unescorted by fighters or ECM birds. Maybe an okay mission for SIOP
but not so good for over the beach stuff like, Vietnam, or IRAQ. I
think the major change is that our CVG isn't tasked to seek out and
destroy the Soviet fleet. Now the most likely scenarios include
missions over land defended by AAA and SAMs. Whales would not survive
there just as the Spads couldn't survive the North Vietnam defenses. I
think we have a brand new ball game to equip for. It wouldn't bother
me a bit to tank from a land based asset since we can get these tankers
to wherever. The CVG still needs an integral tanking capability and I
believe it has one, not like the old days but adequate to cover night
OPs, etc. If I need ECM jammers, I don't care where they come from,
overhead assets, EA-6's, or the girl scouts as long as they get it done
when I need it.

I completely agree that Marines could use some Spads overhead for some
realistic CAS but as long as we have a ROE which prohibits airplanes
from descending below 20 grand, well the Spad will have to remain a
relic of older days. I also agree we probably would be hard pressed to
make a 1000 mile, unrefueled strike with anything we have today. I'm
just not sure we need to anymore.