If the plane is high up in the air and moving fast, you have to burn a lot of fuel to make up the difference in energy. Given that they have enough of an energy

If the plane is high up in the air and moving fast, you have to burn a lot of fuel to make up the difference in energy. Given that they have enough of an energy advantage, they could never get into the engagement range of the surface. Also, it's really hard to set up a SAM a hundred miles into enemy territory - SAM is fundamentally a defensive technology with extremely limited use for air superiority missions.