Duane,
I think your few words...
As an ex-kipper mate
says it all. Not being in the fleet any more may limit your view on what we do these days.
Think more along the lines of the ac being airborne on another task, with weapons loaded, just-in-case. That just-in-case scenario appears and someone, somewhere finds a new TST target that needs to be 'taken out'. Targeting request goes up the chain and the big cheese thinks (or more likely is told be one of the coal-face workers!) "Hang on, we have an asset with things that go bang already airborne, within range. Let's retask that asset rather than prep and launch a fresh one, as that may take some time."
So, I think good ol' Norman isn't being "desparate" but is in a position to be a useful weapons platform, especially for TST.
Norman has many roles these days, it's not like the old Cold War days any more.
MadMark!!!
