The US Marines are putting Hellfire surface-attack missiles on one of their less traditional airframes:

A KC-130 aerial refueling tanker/transport.

In fact, it’s a fascinating (if not completely new) idea.  Over the years ideas have been floated from putting hundreds of air-to-air missiles on the B-52 to turning C-5 and C-17 cargo aircraft into bombers.  (The payload of a B-2 is reportedly 40,000lbs.  The C-5: 250,000lbs.)  What were once innovative flights of fancy by aircraft designers and Air Force operators are now standard fare (ie, the addition of Hellfire missiles to the Predator UAV).

Still, a little caution is warranted.  Necessity is often the mother of invention (reference the early AC-119 Gunships in Vietnam).  However, boredom and “mission-envy” sometimes play a role as well.