I look at this the same as shield running and docking for repairs during combat.
A variation of this OORP behavior is NPC farming during combat. This occurs when one player runs out of bats/bots and starts killing NPCs (both friendly and enemy NPCs) in order to harvest the bats/bots they carry.
All this behavior does is prolong the fight (like shield running ... which is why that rule came about).
I've also seen traders going back and forth between the battle and a base or planet to continuously supply their "friends" with bats/bots. This is PVP abuse if you ask me. There's no role play in it and it does nothing but prolong a fight (like shield running).
