A strategic bomber is a mid-to-long range heavy bomber aircraft designed to drop large amounts of ordnance onto a distant target for the purposes of debilitating an enemy's capacity to wage war. Unlike tactical bombers and ground attack aircraft, which are used in air interdiction operations to attack troops and military equipment, strategic bombers are built to fly into an enemy's heartland to destroy strategic targets, e.g. major military installations, factories and cities. In addition to strategic bombing, strategic bombers can be used for tactical missions. The United States, Russia and China (leased from Russia) maintain strategic bombers.
Read more about Strategic Bomber: First and Second World Wars, The Cold War and Its Aftermath, Notable Strategic Bombers
Famous quotes containing the word strategic:
“Marriage is like a war. There are moments of chivalry and gallantry that attend the victorious advances and strategic retreats, the birth or death of children, the momentary conquest of loneliness, the sacrifice that ennobles him who makes it. But mostly there are the long dull sieges, the waiting, the terror and boredom. Women understand this better than men; they are better able to survive attrition.”
—Helen Hayes (1900–1993)