Hunting down the named pilots in Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown is a tall order. These hard-to-find Aces will only appear when you complete special, secret objectives — and they only ever spawn when replaying levels you’ve completed once before. These named pilots are especially difficult, and you’ll only find them in certain missions. Find all 24, and you’ll earn the ‘Bird of Prey’ achievement / trophy.

Ace Combat 7 is an action-oriented flight sim, dropping you into a war between fictional countries. The series is known for it’s story-telling, even if the only way you interact with the world is through a variety of jet fighters. You’ll be bombing ground forces, dog-fighting in the sky, and working to unseat an imperialistic enemy, looking to annex its neighbors in a massive war.

And you’ll earn lots of aircraft skins you can use to customize your favorite fighters. To get the “Special” skin for the X-02S Strike Wyvern, you’ll need to shoot down all the aces on our list. Scroll down to see how to take them all out.

More Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown guides:

How To Spawn All 24 Aces | ‘Bird of Prey’ Guide

Aces are special “collectible” named pilots that appear when you complete special, hidden objectives on certain missions.

Mission: Charge Assault

Ace #1 : Huang Xuan Tai “PYRO” Shoot down the third wave with multi anti-air missiles (4AAM, 6AAM, 8AAM). PYRO appears in the northwest corner.

: Huang Xuan Tai “PYRO”

Mission: Charge The Enemy

Ace #2 : Joe Barker “JESTER” Destroy all Radar Vehicles, then destroy the TGT-CTRL TOWER very quickly before the UAVs appear. Jester appears on the airbase taxiway.

: Joe Barker “JESTER”

Mission: Two-Pronged Strategy

Ace #3 : Rosie Lucas “BAYONET” Destroy all enemies in 90 seconds, before the Missile Alert event. BAYONET appears in the northwest corner.

: Rosie Lucas “BAYONET”

Mission: Rescue

Ace #4 : Florent Noilet “RONIN” Stay below 200 meters during the first part of the mission, until you reach the space elevator. Ronin appears in the northeast of the map.

: Florent Noilet “RONIN”

Mission: 444

Ace #5 : Sebastian Koch “FANG” While your weapons are off, soak up at least 75% damage or more. Once you shoot down the bombers, FANG will spawn in the center of the map.

: Sebastian Koch “FANG”

Mission: Long Day

Ace #6 : Sophie Andre “KITTEN” Fly through the narrow tunnel through the mountain in the western base. KITTEN will appear in the southwest corner.

: Sophie Andre “KITTEN”

Mission: First Contact

Ace #7 : Thibault Besson “FAUCON” During the first part of the mission, destroy all non-TGT enemies on the map. FAUCON will appear in the north section of the map.

: Thibault Besson “FAUCON”

Mission: Pipeline Destruction

Ace #8 : Samuel Everest “GAZELLE” Destroy all the oil facilities before the timer hits 00:00. GAZELLE appears in the north section of the map.

: Samuel Everest “GAZELLE”

Mission: Faceless Soldier

Ace #9 : Hans Weber “SPIDER” Before destroying the Radar Towers, destroy 50%+ of the non-TGT enemies on the map. SPIDERS appears to the east.

: Hans Weber “SPIDER”

Mission: Transfer Orders

Ace #10 : Ken Warren “LOUVETEAU” Destroy all SAMs very quickly. LOUVETEAU appears around the east side of the map.

: Ken Warren “LOUVETEAU”

Mission: Fleet Destruction

Ace #11 : Chris Azure “CHASSEUR” Shoot down all aircraft on the northernmost platform before they take off. Anti-air weapons can target grounded aircraft. CHASSEUR will appear to the west.

: Chris Azure “CHASSEUR” Ace #12 : Matthieu Bertin “IBIS” Fly through the narrow passage in the northeast platform facility. IBIS appears to the west.

: Matthieu Bertin “IBIS”

Mission: Stonehenge Defense

Ace #13 : Arnaud Durand “WALRUS” Stop all bombers and ground forces from damaging Stonehenge. If Stonehenge is undamaged, WALRUS spawns in the northeast when the chopper win appears.

: Arnaud Durand “WALRUS” Ace #14 : Kees Bakker “BUFFLE” Destroy all three non-TGT A-10s that spawn to the east. BUFFLE will appear further west.

: Kees Bakker “BUFFLE” Ace #15 : Nathan Roche “FOUDRE” Fly under the narrow spawn below the Stonehenge cannons. FOUDRE appears to the south.

: Nathan Roche “FOUDRE”

Mission: Bunker Buster

Ace #16 : Owen Corwin “COMET” Destroy all missile silos very quickly to make COMET appear in the west after the checkpoint.

: Owen Corwin “COMET”

Mission: Werewolf

Ace #17 : Jules Martin “GADFLY” Reach the end of the canyon very quickly. GADFLY will appear with the fighter wing reinforcements when attacking the airbase.

: Jules Martin “GADFLY”

Mission: Battle For Farbanti

Ace #18 : Russel Faulkner “SERPENT” Earn +5,000 points above the required amount. SERPENT will appear to the southeast with an incoming reinforcement wing.

: Russel Faulkner “SERPENT” Ace #19 : Vincent Masson “BOGEN” Destroy the Aegis Ashore, an anti-aircraft ship near GHQ. It spawns at the end of the first part of the mission. BOGEN appears south of the ship.

: Vincent Masson “BOGEN”

Mission: Last Hope

Ace #20 : Emeric Pons “AXEMAN” Earn 15,000+ points to make AXEMAN appear as an “Unknown” in the southern area of the port city limits.

: Emeric Pons “AXEMAN”

Mission: Homeward

Ace #21 : Olivier Perrins “MANTIS” Fly above (and very close to) the Mass Driver, as if you’re being launched from it. MANTIS appears with the bomber reinforcements in the east, and will be marked as “Unknown” like everyone else.

: Olivier Perrins “MANTIS”

Mission: Lost Kingdom

Ace #22 : Benjamin Neumann “LYNX” Destroy all enemies before reaching Shilage castle in two minutes or less. LYNX appears above the castle.

: Benjamin Neumann “LYNX”

Mission: Lighthouse

Ace #23 : Cyril Noiret “TEMPEST” Earn 20,000+ points in the first part of the mission. TEMPEST appears to the southeast.

: Cyril Noiret “TEMPEST” Ace #24 : Paul Lebrun “CALAMITY” Earn 20,000+ points in the first part of the mission. CALAMITY flies a stealth aircraft, so fly south to spot him on your radar.

: Paul Lebrun “CALAMITY”

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