Dismissed Discussion on Arsenal Weapon Systems

[DeSchaine]

Well, when you dig down just a small bit you realize that it's hugely impractical and really cost prohibitive for the kind of thing being proposed here. Aircraft are never going to be able to carry the amounts to rival a ship. You also realize that modern heavy bombers already kind of fit the bill, it just depends on how you define "arsenal". Consider:

B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber: 50,000 lb internal capacity. Enough for 80x 500 lb bombs or 16x long range air to surface missiles, depending on rack configuration.

B-1 Lancer: 75,000 lb internal capacity. 144x small diameter bombs or 24x long range air to surface missiles.
Tu-160:  88,000 lb internal capacity (supposedly). Carries only 12x cruise missiles or 12x nuke capable missiles

Tu-95: 33,000 lb external capacity.
B-52 Stratofortress: 70,000 lb internal/external capacity. Mixed ordinance.