Are these bombers being upgraded to carry something other than the Kh-55 and Kh-55SMs? Will the Kh-101 fit in the bays? What about conventional weapons?

F-18 isn’t F-22. With all external tanks and external stores an F-18 has to carry to do its job, it has a pretty big RCS. There is no first look/first shot advantage for the F-18. And there are versions of R-77 with longer range than the AIM-120.

You mean the R-77 versions which appear on stands at air shows? Is the plain vanilla R-77 even in service with the RuAF? I know China and India operate the RVV-AE vanilla export R-77, but are they going to buy the “extended range” air show R-77 versions?

Isn’t the seeker for the PL-12 imported? If so the quantity available depends on that key piece.

Even the most accurate ballistic missiles still have an CEP of 100m I think, but 250 seems more likely. Even a 2000lbs warhead falling 100m next to a building will not seriously harm it. Windows are out, but it is not totally destroyed. Machinery (like a reactor) normally needs direct hits to become inoperable.

The SCUDs the Iraqis used were purely meant as terror weapon, you cannot hit a military or industrial target with that missiles.

Couldn’t you have a GPS guided warhead pop out at the end of the flight and accurately hit a target? I think this was the idea with the US conventional ICBM proposal.

The big bay in the old pictures almost looks like it could have an accordion type door, with small folding sections which all squeeze up to the sides. A benefit would be that when the bay is open there aren’t large “barn doors” swung down and affecting side RCS. The drawback would be complexity, and inability to hang rail launching weapons from open doors (R-73, in the JSF AMRAAM style).

The new fairing looks like it has a simpler door system, maybe testing something for the PAK-FA.