Surfing the net I ran across the Cruise Missile Carrier concept from the 70's based on wide body civil airliners.
While the option at the time was between using them or the B-2 in the nuclear deterrence role, the concept is valid in my opinion in the Air-Sea Battle of today.
G-2 mil stated on his blog the following...
B-747s can also dominate the world's oceans. A squadron of 12 B-747s loaded with anti-ship cruise missiles can be vectored toward a enemy fleet by satellites or submarines, while E-3 Sentry AWACS provide escort with long-range radar. The squadron can break into four flights and launch a total of 1064 cruise missiles at a naval fleet from four directions a thousand miles away.While he goes on to make some statements that I disagree with his basic premise seems sound. And valuable for a future war at sea. Taking the nuclear mission out of the equation and you have massive firepower that will have to be protected but could saturate targets at sea and land with cruise missiles outside the range of threat weapon systems.
If we were to develop high speed cruise missiles like our potential enemies then we could in essence have a Chinese carrier killer all in one airplane. Any idea of denying our forces entry into a particular region of the Pacific could be denied with a flight of F-22's with tankers escorting a couple of B-747 cruise missile carriers.
The Air Force would never rethink its thinking on the concept but it is a fascinating blast from the past.
