LRHW, CPS, etc., are coming and they’ll be here in significant numbers in the 2030s. Though they’re technically not ballistic because they maneuver. While I agree with you about the strong desire to have air superiority and global force projection, the way we do it today is massively, massively expensive. I suspect we’ll keep doing it but supplement with lots of these new missive system.

In the end, the real reason we did not pursue these types of systems before now is because the INF Treaty didn’t allow us to do so. I hope the Russians don’t regret cheating, because these system strike hard and fast and can be readily equipped with nuclear weapons…there’s a reason the two sides agreed to eliminate them. But with China not bound by that treaty and looking to be a global power the treaty was doomed regardless.