How to Spawn All 24 Aces in Ace Combat 7

Arguably the hidden gem of Ace Combat 7 is the hunt for all 24 aces. Also known as named aircraft, aces are the toughest of the AI pilots you will face. But these aces won’t just show up on their own. You’ll need to hit certain milestones in specific missions in order to spawn them. All of the Ace Combat 7 Ace Locations vary, but Nerds and Scoundrels has you covered! Keep reading for our complete Ace Combat 7 Aces Spawn Location Guide

Ace Combat 7 Aces Guide

You can only unlock the aces when you replay campaign missions on Normal difficultly or higher. This can be done in either campaign mode or Free Mission mode. An ace may not have a more durable plane than any other NPC, but their flying ability make them much harder to kill. Aces also give twice as many points as standard NPCs.

1. Pyro

Captain Huang Xuan Tai
Mission 1: Charge Assault

Destroy the third wave of enemies with the 4AAM, 6AAM, or 8AAM. PYRO spawns in the northwest at the same time as the fourth wave of bombers.

2. Jester

Major Joe Barker
Mission 2: Charge the Enemy

After destroying all RADAR VEHICLEs, destroy the TGT-marked CTRL.TOWER before the UAVs spawn. JESTER spawns on a taxiway near the base after the UAVs spawn.

3. Bayonet

Lieutenant Colonel Rosie Lucas
Mission 3: Two-pronged Strategy

Shoot down all enemies in the first part of the mission in less than 90 seconds (the timer must pause at 18:30:00 or higher when the last enemy is shot down). BAYONET spawns in the northwest corner of the map

4. Ronin

Lieutenant Colonel Florent Nollet
Mission 4: Rescue

Fly under 200 meters (650 feet) until radio silence is lifted and you reach the space elevator. RONIN spawns northeast of Selatepura and will attempt to flee west after the first cutscene.

5. Fang

First Lieutenant Sebastian Koch
Mission 5: 444

Endure at least 75% damage while your weapons are disabled. FANG spawns in the middle of the map after shooting down the first three bombers.

6. Kitten

Second Lieutenant Sophie André
Mission 6: Long Day

Fly through the tunnel in the westernmost base. KITTEN spawns in the southwest corner.

7. Faucon

First Lieutenant Thibault Besson
Mission 7: First Contact

Destroy all non-TGT enemies in the first part of the mission. FAUCON spawns in the north.

8. Gazelle

Captain Samuel Everest
Mission 8: Pipeline Destruction

Destroy all oil facilities before time runs out. GAZELLE spawns in the north with the UAVs.

9. Spider

First Lieutenant Hans Weber
Mission 9: Faceless Soldier

Take out at least half of the non-TGT enemies before destroying all RADAR TOWERs. SPIDER spawns in the middle with stealth capability.

10. Louveteau

First Lieutenant Ken Warren
Mission 10: Transfer Orders

Destroy all of the SAMs in a short amount of time. LOUVETEAU spawns with the three Mirage 2000-5s when they spawn in the east.

11. Ibis

Major Matthieu Bertin
MIssion 11: Fleet Destruction

Fly through the gap, where the platform cores are located, in the northern platforms. IBIS spawns near the eastern fleet and will attempt to flee northward.

12. Chasseur

Major Chris Azure
Mission 11: Fleet Destruction

Destroy all aircraft on the northern platform before they takeoff. CHASSEUR spawns in the west.

13. Walrus

Captain Arnaud Durand
Mission 12: Stonehenge Defensive

Prevent Stonehenge from getting damaged even once. WALRUS spawns in the northeast with the helicopter force

14. Foudre

First Lieutenant Nathan Roche
Mission 12: Stonehenge Defensive

Fly underneath any of the Stonehenge railguns. FOUDRE spawns in the south.

15. Buffle

Second Lieutenant Kees Bakker
Mission 12: Stonehenge Defensive

Destroy the three A-10C Thunderbolt IIs coming from the east. BUFFLE spawns southwest of Stonehenge.

16. Comet

Second Lieutenant Owen Corwin
Mission 13: Bunker Buster

Destroy the MISSILE SILOs in a short amount of time. COMET spawns flying away towards the west in the Mission Update.

17. Gadfly

Second Lieutenant Jules Martin
Mission 14: Cape Rainy Assault

Fly through the canyon in a short amount of time. GADFLY spawns with the Su-35S Flanker-Ereinforcements in the north.

18. Serpent

Second Lieutenant Russel Faulkner
Mission 15: Battle for Farbanti

Earn at least 17,000 points in the first part of the mission. SERPENT spawns southwest of the southeastern group of enemy aircraft. SERPENT may be difficult to spot among all the other aircraft, so shoot down some of them before engaging the ace.

19. Bogen

Major Vincent Masson
Mission 15: Battle for Farbanti

Destroy the Aegis Ashore near the GHQ at the end of the first phase of the mission. BOGEN spawns south of the Aegis Ashore and will attempt to escape southward.

20. Axeman

Lieutenant Colonel Emeric Pons
Mission 16: Last Hope

Earn about 10,000 points. AXEMAN spawns above the southeastern part of the city, but will be marked as UNKNOWN until confirmed as an enemy.

21. Mantis

First Lieutenant Olivier Perrin
Mission 17: Homeward

Fly above and very close to the mass driver rail in the first part of the mission. MANTIS spawns with the bombers and other fighters to the east, but will be marked as UNKNOWN until confirmed as an enemy.

22. Lynx

Major Benjamin Neumann
Mission 18: Lost Kingdom

Destroy all the enemies along the route and reach Shilage Castle in about two minutes and thirty seconds. LYNX spawns slightly north of the castle about the time that the F-16 takes off.

23. Calamity

Second Lieutenant Paul Lebrun
Mission 19: Lighthouse

Earn about 17,000 points in the first phase of the mission. CALAMITY spawns far southeast of the space elevator and flies south and will eventually hold position outside of the map edge, but within range of long range weaponry, such as the EML. Since the Su-57 is stealth, CALAMITY will not appear on radar unless you get close to him.

24. Tempest

Second Lieutenant Cyril Noiret
Mission 19: Lighthouse

Earn about 20,000 points in the first phase of the mission. TEMPEST spawns southwest of the space elevator and will begin engaging allied aircraft, but will prioritize Trigger if he is within about 30,000 feet.

How to Get the Bird of Prey Achievement in Ace Combat 7

If you manage to shoot down all 24 of the aces in Ace Combat 7, you will unlock the “Bird of Prey” achievement. This achievement also unlocks a “Special” skin that can only be used on the X-02S Strike Wyvern.

Nerds and Scoundrels

And that completes our full list of Ace Combat 7 Aces locations. Have you been able to spawn them all? Let us know if we missed anything. And don’t forget to check out the rest of Ace Combat 7 content here at Nerds and Scoundrels.