Originally Posted by
orca15
I would say it was just in case something changed. If the airliner deviated from course, or something exploded, it would be pretty helpful to have someone watching it happen and reporting the status.
Probably true but unfortunately it may be worse than that. Depending on the threat, it may be possible that the F-16’s need to shoot down the aircraft. You know, the lesser of the evils and all that. Fortunately we have never seen such a dark day, hope we never do.