I think we can see the way things are going. In recent "interventions" (The Gulf, the Balkans, Afghanistan) the pattern has been to neutralise (or severely degrade) potential hostile air defences with Cruise Missiles and stealthy manned bombers, before releasing much in the way of tactical OS aircraft. In the not-too-distant future the stealth bombers will be substituted by UAVs. The targets are generally fixed, and their positions should be accurately determined by intelligence sources.
Once the opposition has been eliminated, the need for fast jet OS aircraft disappears. What is needed then is aircraft capable of delivering a heavy weight of PGWs economically and at the greatest possible range against targets designated by special forces. Unsurprisingly, once the need to penetrate defences is obviated, the bomber is once again supreme. The Yanks have been sensible enough to upgrade the B52's systems. Would that we had done the same with the Vulcan!
Someone needs to study the relative costs of delivering ordnance by a big, fat sub-sonic aircraft with a capacious bomb-bay, using current civil aviation technology, compared with delivering the same weight of ordnance via a brace of strike carriers and all their attendants.