Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies/Aircraft & Weapons

Ace Combat is, naturally, famous for its aircraft, which are fully licensed by Namco from their manufacturers. Their equipment, however, is not, and have generic names like XLAA for "Advanced Long Range Air to Air missile".

Note that italicized armaments are special weapons.

The second number listed in the cost is the amount for the additional paint schemes.

F-4E Phantom II
The F-4 is the starting plane and is therefore not very impressive. Compared to other aircraft, it does have its strengths - a high missile storage and bombs you'll find effective on the second and third missions of the game. It is otherwise, however, unremarkable.

Official Description: Large carrier-based jet designed to shoot down enemy aircraft and destroy ground targets.

F-5E Freedom Fighter
Roughly equivalent to the F-4, the F-5 seems at first glance to be superior to the F-4. While this is true in several senses, several points should be made. Firstly, the F-4 carries additional missiles, letting a novice player be less stingy with them. The F-5 is more manoeuvrable, but can't take as much damage than the F-4. Therefore, if you feel confident in your ability to dodge missiles, the F-5 may be your plane for a while - at least until you upgrade to the F-16.

Official Description: ''Low cost, lightweight fighter with respectable capability in all areas. Easy to fly and maintain.''

F-16C Fighting Falcon
The F-16C is one of the best starting planes available. A significant upgrade to the F-4E, the Fighting Falcon has similar bombs to the F-4, and the XAGM isn't anything to scoff at either - particularly against targets which are only vulnerable from high altitudes. The price for increased performance is its lesser stability - so you may find it stalls at higher speeds.

Official Description: Small and lightweight, this jet is a well-balanced fighting machine for air-to-air and air-to-ground combat.

A-10A Warthog
For missions like Whiskey Corridor where most of the enemies you'll encounter are on the ground, you'll find the A-10 well worth its price. Its high ground attack value lets it lock quickly onto targets on the ground, and its UGBLs can seriously wreak havoc on groups of enemies.

Official Description: This ground attack fighter is well equipped for its role with a large Vulcan cannon and air-to-ground weapons.

MIR-2000 Mirage
Unlike subsequent iterations of the Mirage from the next few games, the Mirage here is the fighter variant. Despite this, however, you may find existing aircraft just as good as this one, so you may want to skip buying it. With the A-10 for ground attack and the soon-to-come F-14 for air combat needs, chances are you're going to ignore this plane for the most part and buy it later for completion's sake.

Official Description: Great multi-role fighter that incorporates the latest technology to compensate for delta-wing design.

F-14A Tomcat
The F-14A is the ideal plane for the next several missions, especially for Shattered Skies. Although its stats suggest it as a pure air combat fighter, the UGBMs you can buy make the F-14 a pretty good attacker too. Although the F-14 is a good plane with lots of versatility, it will be unable to perform to the standard you'll need for later missions against the Yellow Squadron.

Official Description: ''Carrier-based air superiority fighter. This jet can attack multiple targets simultaneously. ''

TND-IDS
The Panavia Tornado IDS (Interdictor Strike) is a decent all-around plane, and of all the ground-attack planes is the best at air-to-air combat - at least until the Mitsubishi F-2. There are more capable planes that secede it, however, so first-time players may want to save their money for a more capable aircraft. Its default special weapon is tough to use, and doesn't cause as big of a bang as the UGBL. That said, it doesn't stall easily and can withstand a beating like the A-10. It remains a question of taste, therefore, whether to obtain the Tornado.

Offical Description: Multi-role fighter that features both air-to-air and air-to-ground capability.

F/A-18C Hornet
The Hornet is the first truly multirole aircraft. Its weapons loadout is extremely versatile - XMAAs for air-to-air fights, UGBMs for clustered enemy targets, and LASMs for dealing with SAM sites from long range, or the SAM-equipped cruisers in Invincible Fleet. It is quite feasible for slightly above-average players to beat the entire game using the Hornet.

Official Description: ''Multi-role carrier-based fighter. Able to carry virtually every weapon ever made.''

F-15C Eagle
The Eagle is essentially a drastically souped-up version of the F-16 - capable of bombing and fighting, but more slated to fighting. The F-15E, however, is superior in every respect and the Typhoon is coming up soon, which will likely replace your F-15C if you decide to get one. The Hornet will satisfy your multirole needs for a while.

Official Description: With the perfect balance of power and maneuverability, this jet is the best air superiority fighter available.

MiG-29A Fulcrum
Regrettably the MiG's sole appearance in this game isn't a notable one. It doesn't turn very well and its armament is somewhat lacking - it is beaten in practically every way by the Hornet and in many respects, the Eagle.

Official Description: ''Highly maneuverable mid-sized fighter with a large payload. Performs well in both air-to-ground and air-to-air roles.''

F-117 Nighthawk
Although many players will choose the Nighthawk for its appearance, its appearance is its only real advantage. The stealth feature, while nice, is more of an annoyance for the enemy than a real game-breaker as it can be in real life. It is otherwise comparable to the Tornado, but fortunately doesn't sport the difficult to use bomblet dispenser.

Official Description: Although difficult to detect by radar, this stealth attacker is limited by a small payload capacity.

EF-2000 Typhoon
The next generation of fighters, the Typhoon is well worth the jump in price and it is the choice of many players, even in future installments. In Versus mode and in skilled hands, it can even down more advanced planes like the F-22.

Official Description: Delta-wing air superiority fighter with high-tech canards that adjust for different altitudes.

Rafale M (R-M01)
Having likely just acquired the Typhoon, the Rafale will likely sink to the bottom of the barrel for a while. The Strike Eagle will soon be available, followed by Mobius 1's canonical aircraft, the Raptor. These planes make the Rafale unfortunately sub-par for an aircraft obtained this late in the game. Its LASMs, however, can still be employed to good effect against pesky SAM sites.

Official Description: ''Delta-wing carrier-based fighter with a large payload. Leading edge canards make it highly maneuverable.''

F-15E Strike Eagle
The F-15E is, for the cases of this game, an upgraded version of the F-15C. Despite it actually being a ground-attack version of the F-15C, the F-15E in this game is one of the best multirole aircraft available. Its strong overall stats make it well suited for missions like Emancipation which have equal parts of air and ground combat. However, for the last three missions, you'll want a more specialized aircraft.

Official Description: Advanced air-to-ground avionics and weapons provide this air superiority F-15 with great anti-surface capability.

X-02 Wyvern
The X-02 is the game's super-plane that can only be obtained through beating the game on Normal difficulty, obtaining the S rank for all missions. Additionally, the game must be beaten twice before. Regardless, it is clearly the best plane in the game with all significant stats at their maximum - its biggest limiting factor is its cost and its lack of defence, which is roughly equivalent to an F-4E. However, with its turn-on-a-dime manoeuvres, players should have few problems evading most attacks anyway.