By: Hoaseng Thao

‘Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown’ is a video game made by Bandai Namco, and if you’ve ever played the campaign, you may have seen certain enemies with names on them.

These named aircrafts are actually ace pilots and as a brief explanation to why they’re called an “ace”, an ace is a pilot who’s shot down five or more aircraft in aerial combat.

Each enemy ace flies their own aircraft so by downing one of these aces, you can unlock their unique skin for that aircraft, however if you want to fly around with the skin, you do need to finish the main campaign first.

There are a total of 24 named aces throughout the campaign, but they don’t appear right away as they require a couple of steps to be spawned in.

In this guide, I’ll show you how to trigger them, and what’s the best way to unlock them.

I’ll start off in chronological order of the campaign, starting from mission 1 to 19. I’ll also show the name of the ace, and their specific aircraft.

Mission 1 “Charged Assault” | PYRO | Mig-21

To unlock this ace, you need an aircraft that can equip a special weapon that can launch multiple missiles, any variant is fine. The trigger for this ace is that you need to kill at least the third wave of bombers in one volley.

Mission 2 “Charge the Enemy” | JESTER | Mig-29

Enemy ace “JESTER” can be triggered when you destroy the control tower right after destroying all radar vehicles, but before the drones spawn in. As long as you destroy the radar vehicles before the drones spawn, you’re good to go.

Mission 3 “Two-pronged Strategy” | BAYONET | F-16C

“BAYONET” can only be triggered when you down four aircraft within two minutes, so the best way to achieve this is to use an aircraft with long range weapons. “BAYONET” will spawn behind the Arsenal Bird.

Mission 4 “Rescue” | RONIN | F-15J

“RONIN” is an F-15J that can be triggered when you fly below 200 meters during the stealth section, after that you can find him in the North.

Mission 5 “444” | FANG | F-15C

For “FANG” to spawn in, your aircraft has to take on at least half of your health for them to spawn.

Mission 6 “Long Day” | KITTEN | F-14D

To unlock “KITTEN”, you’re going to have to just fly through the tunnel at the western base, then they’ll spawn in.

Mission 7 “First Contact” | FAUCON | Typhoon

This ace is pretty easy to trigger, as you’ll need to eliminate all non-target enemies and they’ll spawn in to intercept you.

Mission 8 “Pipeline Destruction” | GAZELLE | F-15E

“GAZELLE” is one of the trickiest ones to trigger, as you need to destroy all oil tanks before the timer runs out. I recommend using aircraft that can launch bombs with a large radius. “GAZELLE” spawns alongside the drones.

Mission 9 “Faceless Soldier” | SPIDER | F-18F

In order to get “SPIDER”, you need to shoot down at least half of the non-targets for them to spawn. The best way to achieve “SPIDER” is to use air to ground missiles, as you can just shoot and forget.

Mission 10 “Transfer Orders” | LOUVETEAU | Gripen E

Just like for “BAYONET”, this one is time based as you need to defeat all SAM sites within five minutes so you’ll need a fast aircraft. “LOUVETEAU” will spawn from the east alongside other Gripens.

Mission 11 “Fleet Destruction” | IBIS & CHASSEUR | SU-33 & RAFALE M

There are two aces in this mission, “IBIS” and “CHASSEUR”. To get “IBIS”, you must fly through the cores of the sea platforms, and they’ll spawn near the Erusean Fleet. For “CHASSEUR” you’re going to have to destroy all fighter jets on the northern platforms before they go airborne, only then will they spawn.

Mission 12 “Stonehenge Defensive” | WALRUS, FOUDRE, BUFFLE | SU-34, MIR-2000-5, A-10C

There’s a lot of aces in this mission, so to be brief, “WALRUS” can be triggered when Stonehenge has taken no damage, “FOUDRE” will spawn once you fly underneath any of the Stonehenge turrets, and “BUFFLE” will spawn when you destroy the three A-10Cs from the east.

Mission 13 “Bunker Buster” | COMET | MIG-31

“COMET” is pretty easy to do, just get a fast aircraft and just target the bunkers, but the only problem is that “COMET” does spawn behind you when the ICBMs launch.

Mission 14 “Cape Rainy Assault” | GLADFLY | SU-47

Just like in ‘Star Wars’, the trigger in this mission is to complete the trench run within 2 minutes, so equip a fast and agile aircraft for this one in order for “GLADFLY” to spawn.

Mission 15 “Battle for Farbanti” | BOGEN & SERPENT | F-2A & SU-37

“BOGEN” is pretty easy, so target the Aegis ashore platform and they’ll spawn in, but intercept him quickly or else they’ll flee south. For “SERPENT” to spawn just get around 15,000 points before the timer reaches five minutes, and he’ll spawn in.

Mission 16 “Last Hope” | AXEMAN | SU-45S

Achieve at least 10,000 points in the first section of the mission for “AXEMAN” to spawn, however identify them first before shooting.

Mission 17 “Tyler Island” | MANTIS | F-35C

For “MANTIS” to spawn in, you need to fly above but also very close to the mass driver, only then will they spawn in when the bombers arrive.

Mission 18 “Lost Kingdom” | LYNX | YF-23

“LYNX” can be triggered when you destroy all targets leading to Shilage castle within three minutes, however if you don’t engage them, they will flee southward.

Mission 19 “Lighthouse” | TEMPEST & CALAMITY | F-22A & SU-57

These two are fairly simple, so to trigger both of them, you need at least 20,000 points for them to spawn in. “TEMPEST” will specifically target you while “CALAMITY” will try to flee south.

That is all the named aircrafts in ‘ACE COMBAT 7’, and I hope this guide will help you collect them all!