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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They aren’t as easy of a target for missiles as you think. Modern US fighters have a pretty insane attack range and stealth capabilities along with several options for countermeasures. We even have ways of fooling anti-air positions into firing on fake targets in order to expose their positions in order to wipe them out.
And once the anti-air capabilities are neutralized they can rain hell down on the ground forces trying to hold the lines. Ground movement will always be slowed by simple thing like mines and barricades that take time to remove and disable. But once air superiority is established there’s nothing that can really stop it or stop them from reaching the back lines and disrupting power, reinforcements, and supply lines.
Because an airplane can (in real time) deliver 6000 pounds+ of ACME FAST-ACTING-HOLE-MAKER.
Or
Guide a missile right onto a target, like a tank. Or mobile infantry.
something long range cruise missiles can’t do (cheaply).
Also, if not an airplane. A ship (much larger) must do the same thing. Get close enough to launch missiles.
They can also do other things that are incredibly useful in this new form of war.
You can’t use a radio if it’s being jammed.
Your SAM won’t work if they’re being jammed.
Even if they are working, an anti radar missile can make it not work.
“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.
If you want an animated explanation of what happens when you have absolute control of the sky:
[First day of Desert Storm](https://youtu.be/zxRgfBXn6Mg?si=bcp4zJinoVnO5flC)
This was the first day and Saddam’s army was basically done for, all from the sky.
In modern warfare it’s generally not so much how many bombs you can launch but how accurately you can launch them.
Six well placed shells can often do more work than 200 shells shot hapazardly.
Controlling the sky allows you to place extremely precise missiles exactly where you need them.
The US Even has the [Hellfire R9X](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2022/08/03/ayman-al-zawahiri-s-death-what-is-the-hellfire-r9x-missile-that-the-americans-purportedly-used_5992310_4.html) that is so precise it allows them to take out an important target on the move and basically kill no one else around (it has no explosive charge, it just deployes blades on impact that shred the target).
It is about range. Aircraft can travel thousands of miles and bomb all sorts of things – either of tactical, operational or strategic importance.
tactical importance – bomb those guys on that hill.
operational importance – bomb that bridge so the enemy can‘t move troops.
strategic importance – bomb that factory which produces war material.
and your concern about AA weapons is well founded and that is why modern fighters are built “stealth first” and previous generation fighters have gotten stealth treatments to reduce their radar cross section. The f16 stealth refit programs (Have Glass I-V) have reduced the radar cross section of the fighter to roughly 20% of what it had when the fighter was first introduced. And that extends where the fighter can go unmolested.
Plane go fast. Plane hard to hit. But plane can hit good. Plane can hit hard. Plane hit specific bad guy, make it easier for good guys on ground to move forward.
Look at the Second Gulf War. Everyone though the US would take thousands of casualties in the initial offensive, and the Iraqi army would hold out for weeks. It didn’t the Iraqis crumbled in the face of a massive air offensive which destroyed their commend posts, airfields, artillery, tanks etc. When in the ground battles the Iraqis momentarily got the upper hand, a flight of apaches would come in and smoke them. An advanced warplane can destroy anything on the ground.
The tonnage of explosives they can put down if they get a chance. With working air defence on both sides, yeah, airplanes have dubious utility, as seen in Ukraine, definitely not worth their cost. But if air defence of one side can’t keep up or gets supressed, then they are going to get absolutely mauled from the air.
An air plane can deliver 1500 pound bombs on a target and destroy it completely. They can deliver 1000 rounds of ammunition on a target in 5 seconds. They can end an attack in moments instead of days.
Ground support saves lives.
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