Sept. 23, 2025, is a milestone that highlights the U.S. Air Force’s capacity death spiral. On that day, the Maryland Air National Guard (ANG) inactivated the 104th Fighter Squadron , making Maryland the only state without an ANG flying unit. The reason is simple: For too many years, Air Force funding shortfalls have driven service leaders to retire more aircraft than they can replace through new acquisition. With demand for Air Force airpower at record levels, remaining aircraft and crews are stretched thin.

The Air Force has passed the point where more cannot be done with less. The Trump administration and Congress need to sufficiently resource the Air Force. It has been underfunded for over three decades. Left unchecked, what happened to the 104th Fighter Squadron will be repeated els

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