The Great State of Maine airshow is held at the former Brunswick NAS, which mainly (no pun intended) had an ASW role. I attended the Thunderbirds air show at Hanscom (Lexington, MA) about 20 years ago. The PA announcer made it clear that in the event of war, there was a plan to change the livery of the Thunderbird aircraft and integrate them with a specific AF unit. You always have a reserve force at the start of a war, and the Thunderbirds are essentially reserve assets used for training superior pilots and what the heck, showing off the great training to the public.
I didn’t mean to imply that the TB’s planes were permanently “neutered”, they are technically combat planes, with the ordinanced either removed, or disabled.
They can be converted back into combat-ready quite readily if the need arises.