Before one of the 0.6.5 releases, ballistics had ammo just like missiles. Ballistics became ammoless because CR effectively became the ammo limits. I guess the munitions (and Odyssey since it had mini-munitions) would refill ammo, presumably at the cost of supplies, similar to how fighters worked at the time.
Before 0.6a, fighters could dock with a carrier and consume supplies (in-battle) to replenish their wings. However, if a fighter wing was wiped out, you lost the wing permanently. Before 0.8a, fighters were treated as ships instead of missile-like weapons that take a bay instead of a missile mount.