All F-84Fs were grounded in November 1971, after a 170th pilot was killed when his plane lost a wing during exercises at the Hardwood Gunnery Range in Findley, Wisconsin.

The accident was caused by the "milkbone" joining bolt in the main wing which had been weakened by years of flying and failed in-flight.

In 1972 the 170th F-84s were given a 2G ferry flight permit to the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, the 170th having the distinction of flying the F-84F longer than any other USAF/ANG squadron.

The 170th saw its first General Dynamics F-16A Fighting Falcon on 7 June 1989 when two landed at Capital Airport to replace the aging F-4D Phantom II.

During the 1990s, the unit conducted numerous overseas deployments, including six to Southwest Asia, two to Denmark, one to Panama, one to Curaçao, and one to Thailand.

Starting in January 2002 the 170th FS deployed for two weeks to Tucson Air National Guard Base, Arizona for final training with the LITENING pod.

Initially the deployment in March 2002 was to be with two other ANG units but this changed due to Operation Noble Eagle air defense commitments.

On top of duties over Afghanistan, the 170th FS also had to perform air interdiction missions over Iraq in support of Operation Southern Watch.

The 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission committee report recommended the retirement of the block 30 F-16 Fighting Falcon, and the inactivation of the 170th Fighter Squadron.

Despite challenges by the governor of Illinois in federal court, the aircraft began to be retired, and ultimately the US District Judge stated that there was not enough evidence to support that the region would suffer major harm by the closure of the unit.