Bombers on the Screen

An alternative way to show war without the use of Stock Footage, but can be used with it.

A real-time computer map is used, showing the positions of military units. In WWII era stories, it might be tiny models on a big map instead.

See also: The Big Board, Sensor Suspense.

Film

 * Fail Safe (the original version, at least). Stock Footage was also used.
 * Jack Ryan gets a little exposition with the help of a video situation board (complete with '80s graphics, which at least in terms of graphical quality is Truth in Television) in the movie version of The Hunt for Red October.
 * Dr. Strangelove shows the bombers of the 843rd Bomb Wing on The Big Board in The War Room approaching their targets in Russia.
 * Independence Day had shots of this interspersed with action shots.
 * Taken to the ultimate level in War Games where thousands of nuclear missiles were shown on a giant map traveling across the world and exploding, not once but hundreds of times, as the WOPR computer displayed multiple strategies to try to "win" a nuclear war.
 * Well, could you do better? Go on then, try DEFCON.
 * Or Wargames 1983.

Light Novel and Anime

 * Starship Operators has a lot of this, since (unlike most non-literature Space Opera) battles typically take place outside visual range.
 * Star Trek in particular since it also had the added advantage of avoiding Special Effects Failure.

Literature

 * Ender's Game had bombers on screen. Command School's simulators would simulate countless battles for which one would have to fight through using whatever "ships" supplied. However

Live Action Television

 * The second half of 24 Season 2. Stock Footage was not used.
 * Used with a twist in an episode of Stargate Atlantis - the war is a computer simulation, designed to force peace between two countries.
 * Speaking of Combat Information Centers, you'll see a lot of this in Battlestar Galactica CIC, mixed with (usually not stock) footage of the actual battle.
 * Bonus points for using both screen displays showing what the ship's sensors are picking up, AND a big table with models giving a low-tech picture.
 * In cheaper, 1970s computer graphics, you saw the same in the Original Galactica's bridge.
 * Very often used in documentaries about war, such as The World At War or Battlefield.

Video Games

 * Used in Harpoon, since it is representative of what you'd see in an real ship Combat Information Centre.
 * DEFCON is built around this trope, being mainly inspired by War Games.
 * Wargames 1983
 * A version is shown on screen during Huey's monologues about how Peace Walker works in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. The targets are shown as butterflies.

Web Comics

 * Played with in Air Force Blues, where an AWACS controller offers a visiting fighter pilot the chance to see a Quraci Mi G get in a dogfight with a Predator drone... and we see a shot of a very simplistic line rendering on the radar screen with all of the contacts being represented by dots with a short text description. To be fair, the AWACS controller never said it would look cool.