Not sure if it has been mentioned by could a modernised Avro Vulcan B.3 be a possible replacement? It could use 4× F-135 or future ACE engines. A loadout of 6× GAM-87 skybolt implies a payload of 30 tons.
Image of it found in a previous discussion
An aircraft with four F135s could be somewhere between the B-1 and the Tu-160 in size, probably with an empty weight around 100 tons, an MTOW around 250 tons, a payload around 50 tons, and a top speed around Mach 2 if it has variable inlets. Four F135s would give the Vulcan an afterburning TWR around 1:1 at MTOW, but an 80 ton airplane just isn't big enough to replace a 220 ton heavy bomber.
If you're just looking for a long-range ALBM carrier, then the B-52 make a lot of sense (except for the age). The B-52H fleet was basically unused until the early 1990s and the fact that they switched from the low-altitude profile the B-52H was designed for back to the high-altitude profile the B-52s used up to the D model means they essentially have 100 years of flight hours left before parts reach their structural fatigue lives.
The main reason I think the B-52 replacement could be wrapped up with some sort of tanker is because tankers carry fuel while heavy bombers carry mostly fuel and a few weapons. Both fuel and weapons are extremely dense. Transports, on the other hand, carry cargo that is generally much less dense than fuel or weapons, so a transport carrying a huge load of fuel or weapons is also carrying a huge amount of unnecessary structural volume. Additionally, the kinds of wings and high-lift devices you need to land on short fields and FOBs are not compatible with long endurance flights at high altitudes and high cruising speeds, so you have a mismatch between the requirements for transports and the requirements for tankers and bombers.
My proposal earlier in the thread was for a take on the B-21 but doubled in size, with four engines instead of two and payload for roughly 120 tons of weapons and fuel.
Yes so in general a large delta wing to hold 6× large hypersonic weapons. b-52 was planned to carry only 4 gam-87 and currently testing with 4 ARRW.
If the B-2 can fly halfway around the world with 30 tons of ordnance, its replacement should be able to do the same thing with 10 ARRWs, which weigh about 3 tons each. A B-52 fully loaded with CALCMs is carrying 35-40 tons of missiles. The limit of 4 Skybolts or ARRWs is due exclusively to the hardpoint situation, but a new aircraft could be designed to carry larger numbers of big weapons like the ARRW.
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