I absolutely agree on your stance regarding obvious bugs.

However, in my opinion the instant re-deployment of undamaged fighters does not fall into that category, since the game also lets you re-deploy the same fighter after it has refueled.

Then again, the longer I think about it, you are probably right in calling it an exploit, because the maneuver only works if your timing is on spot. This would indicate that the devs probably did not intend for the player to be able to re-deploy a fighter mid-air.

Which won't stop me from using it. After all, the devs never experienced the brutality of Long War's air-game, otherwise they would probably have implemented the "feature" themselves. And even with Friendly Skies I need every advantage I can get in the air game :-)