China's long-promised stealth bomber — a flying-wing strategic aircraft meant to give Beijing a survivable nuclear-triad air leg and the reach to threaten Guam. Announced in 2016, it has yet to make a confirmed flight; by 2026 it looks less imminent than "frozen."
Russia's supersonic variable-geometry long-range bomber — a stand-off launch platform for the near-unstoppable Kh-22/Kh-32 heavy missile, now contracting under the weight of attrition, precision-strike inadequacy, and a stalled modernization program.
Russia's Cold-War-era intercontinental turboprop bomber — the primary launch platform for Kh-101 cruise missiles and the air leg of its nuclear triad, now irreplaceable and facing historic attrition.
The U.S. Air Force's flying-wing stealth bomber — the world's only operational stealth bomber, sole carrier of the 30,000-lb GBU-57/B bunker buster, and the tip of the conventional and nuclear penetrating-strike spear.
The B-21 Raider is the U.S. Air Force's next-generation penetrating long-range strike stealth bomber — nuclear and conventional capable, designed for the most contested environments, and set to replace the B-1B and B-2 fleets alongside upgraded B-52s.
The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress is the United States Air Force's longest-serving strategic heavy bomber — a subsonic, eight-engine platform that has carried both nuclear and conventional payloads on every major American air campaign since Vietnam and is now slated to fly into the 2050s via the.
China's primary long-range strike platform — a modernized Tu-16 derivative that carries up to six cruise missiles, conducts persistent bomber patrols around Taiwan and the first island chain, and forms the backbone of PLAAF/PLANAF bomber aviation.
Russia's Mach-2-capable strategic heavy bomber and standoff cruise-missile carrier — the largest and fastest supersonic aircraft ever fielded, modernized with new-build Tu-160M aircraft entering service despite aging fleet challenges.