Wessex,
Thanks for the compliments. When you get to Mach 2, describe it to me and I'll decide whether you're telling the truth. Until then, go back/stick to driving boats.
FADM,
I maintain the F15E IS a strike machine. It just also happens to be a bloody good A to A jet as well. My whole point is "affordable defence"; being able to hit Jakarta with refuelled F15Es being run much more cheaply than a fleet of pigs makes sense to me. And the pig IS a "real bomber". That's all it is. Nothing more. And further, we're talking about aeroplanes, laddy. "Planes" shave wood.