Sorry I am late replying to whoever it was who called me a "dinosaur" ; I have been taking the "worm" prophylactic. Well, some dinosaurs packed a far bigger punch than their linear decendants which are mainly, I believe, harmless feathered birds.
I flew the Vulcan at Waddo in 68/69 and later flew its contemporary the Buff (once). The Vulcan was the best medium bomber of its time and the Buff the best heavy bomber. The MOD in its infinitewisdom ceased to spend any development money on the Vulcan after Polaris came into service in 1969. The Americans continued to develop the Buff with continual systems and weapons updates. It is still, in terms of range/payload/CEP the most efficient ordnance deliverer in service with any Service of any nation. And its development costs were probably amortised 30 years ago. Rolls Royce are bidding to re-engine it (for about the third time) possibly with four RB 211s, which should pay for themselves over the projected 25 years of fleet life remaining. (There are those who say that the Buff may become the first centenarian aircraft in about 2050).
The Buffs probably did more damage to the Taliban and Al Q'aida
in Afganistan than any other system. It was supported with targeting information by special forces and could, and did, deliver JDAMS with remarkably short reaction times. In GW2 the much-vaunted Republican Guard regiments which were supposed to give the Allies a hard time around Baghdad never really materialised. Andrew Gilligan, never previously a fan of offensive air power, was forced to change his line after interviewing a Republican Guard regiment commander whose men had simply melted away after days of intensive bombing. We never heard much about it because there were no reporters "embedded" in the Buff fleet.
It would be just as true to say that, in expeditionary operations, the surface forces' role is to support the air forces, as the reverse. Meanwhile, instead of finding some way to equip ourselves with a fleet of large, long-range, non-penetrating ordance-deliverers, we are going to squander billions on two massive aircraft carriers and their pathetic little toy bombers, which will cost the earth to run and deliver very little "bang-per-buck".