Cruise missiles are $1m a piece and exist in precious quantities. In the previous conflicts, we'd only used them to soften up the air defense network, then send in the B-2's to take out the rest of the air defenses once its safe for them to fly. Once the B-2's are done, then its only safe to bring in regular fighters, choppers, troop transports, tanks, and bombers.

I'm not sure how the F-35 fits into this. One of the issues with the B-2's is that our fleet is tiny and they're super-expensive to run and carry limited ordinance. I suspect they may take some pressure off the B-2's with their mixed role.