The FSO's work like that. ..... Kinda....
And those can be very boring at times. This last one we flew around the long way on the island chain ON PURPOSE just it seems to give them a chance to practice air recon, and vectoring fighters with ground controllers. I remember being told just where the carriers were supposed to be when we took off. I remember asking why the hell we were going all the way around then. I don't remember what the answer was.
anyway, that would definately not work in the 24-7 arena with variable targets. We'd all get very bored very fast. Hell even with the dar the way it is now, one of the biggest complaints amongst the majority of players is that they can't find each other.