Why are airplanes so important in modern warfare? After all, they do not carry a lot of weapons with them and can be an easy target for missiles
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“Not a lot” is a relatively inaccurate term. Fighters may not carry much (the most heavily armed fighter can carry 16 missiles), but bombers are absolutely massive. The B-2 Stealth Bomber can carry 80 bombs, each one being 500 lbs of explosives and each being enough to level a building by itself.
The US as an example, there’s 3 primary levels of aircraft missions. You have your air supremacy fighters, which are designed with the express intent of shooting down other planes, and give up the ability to do other missions in favor of being absolutely the best at that. This is your F15 and F22 role. Next you have the Attack/Strike role, which is tactical (individual target or small, localized area) bombing or gun strafing to destroy equipment or reinforced outposts. The F16, F/A18, and F35 do this, though they retain some fighter capabilities for self-defense as well. The F15 has been successfully upgraded to perform this role as well in recent years. The A10 is dedicated to this role. Then you have strategic bombing, which is mass-level destructive bombing, destroying entire bases, cities, or forces in one fell swoop. This is where nukes come in, though heavy conventional bombs are also used. Here you have your heavy bomber aircraft, the B52, B1, B2, and B21.
US doctrine is to achieve air supremacy early, because that allows them to entirely bypass conventionally guarded locations and penetrate deep into enemy territory to destroy them at the heart. The intent is to break the enemy before they send ground troops in, because if they control the skies that means they will take much fewer ground casualties, leading to a stronger invasion force that has backup on a moments’ notice to destroy an unexpectedly well secured target, while the enemy gets no support and is effectively surrounded when an attack plane comes in from behind them.
To achieve their goal, they start with the Strike aircraft with fighter ability (the F16, F/A18, and F35), sending them in to target anti-aircraft outposts that would pick bombers and fighters apart. This is the most risky phase of course, because they’re targeting the very things designed to shoot them down, but it’s also the most important. Ground based missiles, as mentioned in your question, are the single biggest threat to air power and must be eradicated to achieve air supremacy. Once this has been achieved, the skies are open for the true fighters to destroy the enemy air forces which would otherwise make quick work of the bombers. Strike aircraft will continue to operate but in an entirely ground attack role, and the A10 will enter at this time as well, to destroy popup air defense (like trucks) and provide close air support for the ground troops. Once the enemy air forces have also been destroyed, air supremacy has been achieved, and now the bombers can come in, providing the single biggest threat of total destruction to the enemy. At this point, the US can operate with impunity and the enemy would be forced to commit to guerilla tactics in an entirely defensive position.
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