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By definition a strategic bomber is an airplane designed to contain heavy loads of ordnance to carry out bombing missions on distant targets. Heavy bombers came into use during WWII. Back in those days the bombs used were dumb bombs so the emphasis was on dropping massive loads of ordnance to make sure that at least some of them would hit the right target.
During the cold war with Russia the payload for most strategic bombers was nuclear. Armed B-52s were kept in the air 24 hours a day to be able to deliver their nuclear payload at a moments notice. Now with the advent of stealth technology the older unstealthy bombers are mainly used to launch standoff weapons such as cruise missiles.
Mordern bombers don’t have to carry as much of a payload to get devastating effects on their targets because they use smart bombs. Since smart bombs can be cheaply produced now it is more practical to use them. This exponentially increases the bang that you get for the buck so fewer bombers have to be used to get devastating effects on a specific target. http://www.militaryringexpress.com
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