ok, you missed the point of what i was saying
a massive, escorted bombing raid on a city in a nation that had a competent anti air defense grid and interceptor force of similar technological level. im curious how the tactics would play out
no...a conventional bombing raid
Conventional WW2 type "Bombing raids" can be done more effectively (cost/effect ratio) with missiles than with bombers. There's a reason Saddam bombed Tehran with Scuds rather than with his air force, even though he had air supremacy throughout most of the 1st gulf war. Bombers are so much more expensive to replace. Bombers only come into play when you have to do precision strikes that cheap missiles can't do, and you want / need to see the effect of those strikes. But if you only want to cause mayhem and terror, missiles are good enough.
Sending bombers means you are forced to cross the enemy's air space. You are forced to come close to whatever assets he has on the ground and in the air. If the other side knows its business, this means you cannot avoid their weapons. They're there, they see you coming, they will fire their missiles at you. A bomber raid in modern times is the equivalent of a cavalry charge across a WW1 battlefield: It's pretty much suicide, unless the enemy is already down on his knees.
The only way to minimize losses is to (1) knock out the weapons before the strike, i.e. try to hit radar installations, shoot down or chase off their airborne radar systems, send waves of missiles against the SAM sites; and (2) get in and out so quickly and at such high altitude that they cannot harm you much. In the raids against North Vietnam, the US used the B-52 which is a huge-ass bomber aircraft designed for nuclear warfare, against small targets that could just as well be knocked out by much smaller aircraft. But they did not send smaller aircraft. Why? Because the B-52 could fly high enough to avoid the air defenses.
But if you have no such high flying aircraft? Or of the other side has interceptors capable of matching your bombers? No one sends waves of bombers against intact air defense systems or interceptor forces, because it's suicide.
