Lt. Gen. Michael Loh, Director Air National Guard, greets 142nd Wing Airmen before take off on the KC-135 Stratotanker on Korat Air Base, Royal Kingdom of Thailand for Enduring Partners 2023, Sept. 19, 2023. The general and his staff visited to see the State Partnership Program engagement between the Kingdom of Thailand, the Washington and Oregon Air National Guard. The KC-135 Stratotanker is an aerial refueling tanker aircraft that has the capability of carrying up to 83,000 pounds of cargo. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Senior Airman Yuki Klein)

From left: U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Duke A. Pirak, deputy director, Air National Guard (ANG), speaks during a panel alongside Lt. Gen. Steven S. Nordhaus, commander, Continental U.S. North American Aerospace Defense Command Region – 1st Air Force (U.S. Air Forces Northern and U.S. Air Forces Space), and retired Gen. James M. Holmes, former commander, Air Combat Command, at the 2023 Air, Space & Cyber Conference in the National Harbor, Maryland, Sep. 13, 2023. During the panel, titled “The Fighter Shortage and Homeland Defense,” Pirak discussed how recapitalizing existing ANG fighter squadrons can address the fighter aircraft shortage across the Total Force. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Tech. Sgt. Sarah M. McClanahan)

U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Steven S. Nordhaus, right, commander, Continental U.S. North American Aerospace Defense Command Region – 1st Air Force (U.S. Air Forces Northern and U.S. Air Forces Space), speaks during a panel alongside Maj. Gen. Duke A. Pirak, left, deputy director, Air National Guard, and retired Gen. James M. Holmes, former commander, Air Combat Command, at the 2023 Air, Space & Cyber Conference in the National Harbor, Maryland, Sep. 13, 2023. During the panel, Nordhaus and Pirak discussed the shortfall of fighter aircraft across the Total Force and its impact on homeland defense. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Tech. Sgt. Sarah M. McClanahan)

U.S. Air Force Gen. Glen D. VanHerck, center, commander, U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command, is presented the H. H. Arnold Award by the Air & Space Forces Association at the 2023 Air, Space & Cyber Conference in the National Harbor, Maryland, Sep. 13, 2023. The award is the Air & Space Forces Association’s highest honor for military members in the field of national security. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Tech. Sgt. Sarah M. McClanahan)

U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Duke A. Pirak, deputy director, Air National Guard (ANG), speaks during a panel at the 2023 Air, Space & Cyber Conference in the National Harbor, Maryland, Sep. 13, 2023. During the panel, titled “The Fighter Shortage and Homeland Defense,” Pirak discussed how recapitalizing existing ANG fighter squadrons can address the fighter aircraft shortage across the Total Force. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Tech. Sgt. Sarah M. McClanahan)

U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Duke A. Pirak, deputy director, Air National Guard (ANG), speaks during a panel at the 2023 Air, Space & Cyber Conference in the National Harbor, Maryland, Sep. 13, 2023. During the panel, titled “The Fighter Shortage and Homeland Defense,” Pirak discussed how recapitalizing existing ANG fighter squadrons can address the fighter aircraft shortage across the Total Force. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Tech. Sgt. Sarah M. McClanahan)