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two dusty gray F-16s bearing the distinctive Lobo tail art of the 114th Fighter Wing are the equivalent of a poker raise.
• They allow the South Dakota Air National Guard to stay in the game as the Department of Defense determines what the U.S. Air Force becomes in the future. The end game for all Air National Guard units is still to have a flying mission when the Air Force eventually transitions to its new F-35 joint strike fighter sometime in the 21st century.
• "The Air Force, in the next couple of years, is supposed to put out the F-35 bed down plan for all Guard and Reserve units. We want to see that as well as every

body else," said Col. Russ Walz, the 114th's commander.
• In 1991, the 114th began flying F-16s that had been built several years earlier, designated as Block 30s. In 2010, those planes were retired, and the 114th acquired its current fleet of Block 40 F-16s from Hill Air Force Base in Utah. The 114th on Friday said it had completed the conversion, accomplishing all the training requirements in

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