Air superiority was established fairly early on in the conflict. Flying F-15 and F-16s now. Not even stealth and they drop more than just missles - they carry bombs. B-52s weren’t sent in to carpet bomb the area of that’s what you mean.

US could indiscriminately drop dumb bombs but you would have a higher civilian casualty rate.

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appointment 6 hours ago | parent [-]

> Flying F-15 and F-16s now.

Except not really. If they were willing to risk sending many aircraft deep into Iranian airspace with SDBs and JDAMs they wouldn't be running out of ballistic missiles.

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firesteelrain 6 hours ago | parent [-]

There have been 60-70 F15 and F16s operating in Iran (could be more just found via public sources).

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justin66 6 hours ago | parent [-]

And when an F-15E was shot down they got spooked. They're relying heavily on missiles because it doesn't cause a multiday story in the news when one is shot down on its way to the target (and because they're incapable of thinking more than one move ahead, and because it's not their money...).

	▲	firesteelrain 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
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