I want to change my opinion. I’ve been thinking about it, and the totality of the information coming in leads to the conclusion that at least one drone was armed (since the democrats refuse to say they were not), and that Gen Ham gave the order to proceed and was fired as a result - you don’t replace a 4 star part way thru his tour without something significant happening. While lazing doesn’t require the presence of a weapon system, the request for a specific response certainly suggests a gunship was available, or close enough to be made available. I’d guess the latter.
I have been out of the Military for many many years. I can only give you this sage advice put yourself in his shoes, remember this is a great way to get killed yourself, would you put your self in the position to light the target up if you knew there was nothing to respond to it of course not and neither would he, he would not have lit the target up unless he was dang sure there was something near to rain hellfire on that target!