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This qualitative study explores how Swedish Air Force fighter pilots experience their motivation to remain in service amid Sweden’s NATO accession, an intensified security environment, and organizational change. Ten semi-structured interviews with operational pilots (Blekinge and Luleå wings) conducted in November–December 2025 were analyzed using a theoretically informed, abductive thematic analysis grounded in Self-Determination Theory. Three themes explain their motivation: (1) professionalism as a source of meaning, shifting from the enjoyment of flying to the perceived importance of defending Sweden; (2) boundary management between work and everyday life, where workload, time, and family sustainability condition engagement; and (3) loyalty in an uncertain future, shaped by autonomy-supportive leadership, transparency, and career predictability. Overall, willingness to stay is strongest when the transition is meaningful, foreseeable, and fairly compensated, and weakest when rising demands combine with unclear future conditions and strained work–life sustainability.