Rex

The protagonist of the game.

• Ace Pilot: As with any protagonist in an Ace Combat game, he becomes bar none the most skilled pilot in the story.
• The Dreaded:
• Featureless Protagonist: Par for the course for an Ace Combat protagonist who is not William Bishop, no details are given aside from the fact that Trigger is a guy.
• Hope Bringer: As with previous protagonists, Trigger becomes this for the FCU.
• One-Man Army: As is usually the case with the player character in an Ace Combat game, he takes out countless enemies.
• Reassignment Backfire: He was sent to the Spare Squadron by high command in the hopes that he would be killed in a suicide mission. He instead becomes one of Osea’s best pilots after surviving an engagement with Mihaly and becomes instrumental in bringing an end to the war.
• Red Baron: Becomes known as “Wings”.
• The Rival:
• The Silent Bob: Despite never speaking, Rex is often described as an inspiring leader or a rallying point for others to follow
• Silent Protagonist: In true Ace Combat fashion, he never says a word.
• Worthy Opponent:

Ellington "Professor" Baxter

The second in command of the FCU Endurance's Joker Flight, callsign Joker 2.

Voiced by: William Cristopher Stephens [EN], Yuki Onodera [JP]

Anastasiya "Tasha" Severskaya

Voiced by: Emi Lo [EN], Chika Anzai[JP]

William "Noise" Coster

Voiced by: Ray Chase [EN], Yoshimasa Hosoya [JP]

Katherine "Kate" Evans

Voiced by: Marcella Lentz-Pope [EN], Yūko Kaida [JP]

The flight lead of the FCU Endurance's Queen Flight, callsign Queen 1.

• Ace Pilot:
• Reasonable Authority Figure:
• Team Mom:

V. "Vaquero" Cruz

Voiced by: Creator/ [EN], [JP]

Loc "Squall" Nguyen

Voiced by: John DeMita [EN], Naoki Tamanoi [JP]

C. "Solace" Everson

Voiced by: Creator/

Princess Rosa Cossette D'Elise

The public face of the Erusean Royal Family. Her immediate family was from a civilian background but was put into the palace after the previous Erusean kings died.

• Action Survivor: Later in the war effort, she gets caught in the chaos from the satellite blackout and Erusean civil war. She follows Avril's group and personally witnesses the chaos of the war unfold, before becoming capable of taking risks to ensure other people's survival.
• Anti-Villain: Cossette has no personal malice towards Osea and only declares war on them because she believes Osea's influence will slowly take over Erusea and the rest of the Usean Continent, and she goes out of her way to make sure that her soldiers avoid civilian casualties. When she realizes that the war brought nothing but chaos and destruction to both countries, she immediately works on bringing about peace, even if it risks her own life in the process.
• The Atoner: Becomes one after the war ended. With Usea in a sorry state as a result of the war, she helped taking care of refugees fleeing into her country and promoting peace between nations.
• Break the Cutie: The war really starts to take its toll on her. By the time Avril finds her, everything has gone wrong. Cossette's father was killed in the bombing of Farbanti. Then while escaping the violence she became the Sole Survivor when her plane got shot down by rebels. Upon exiting the wrecked plane, her dog (her best friend), died protecting her from Erusean radical troops (who were then forced to leave courtesy of the vengeful conservative forces).
• Catchphrase: "Can you hear me?"
• Cool Big Sis: Implied to be one for Mihaly's granddaughters. Ionela went to the same school as Cossette and formed a frienship that lasted even when the latter became Erusea's princess.
• Death Seeker: One interpretation of her in the final act. She constantly throws herself alone into suicidal situations, desperate to atone personally for the chaos she helped cause.
• Doesn't Trust Those Guys: One of the reasons she went to war with Osea. She believes that the International Space Elevator that Osea built in Selatapura is an attempt to slowly take over the entire Usean Continent. By the end, she finally understands that Vincent Harling really commissioned it to be built in the name of peace, with the tower itself being a large solar power plant, a gigantic radio tower that can cover half the planet, and an international space station that promotes cooperative space exploration between nations.
• Heel Realization: After seeing the painting in the Space Elevator, she is convinced of how the Space Elevator was built for the desire of uniting the world, instead of as a show of national hegemony.
• Impractically Fancy Outfit: Even when she's trudging through the mud, all she has to wear is the fancy white dress she had on when she was stranded. Lampshaded at one point when Rosa has to put on an atmospheric pressure suit and Avril wonders if she'll have trouble putting it on.
• Light Is Good: She is a pacifistic princess who cares for the warring nations, has blond hair and wears the fancy white dress.
  Schroeder: "If Mihaly's granddaughters were like the moon, she was like the sun, around which everything seemed to orbit."
• Middle Name Basis: On the comms, she goes by Cossette, and Avril calls her Cossette when she refers to the princess by name. Outside of when using her full name, nobody calls her Rosa or Princess D'Elise.
• No One Could Survive That!: In the penultimate mission, she tries to parachute from the Lighthouse to safety just as Hugin and Munin show up. They shoot a missile at Count’s plane, who evades it, leaving the missile to hit the space elevator just as Cossette is jumping down, and it’s implied that she gets caught in the resulting explosion. It even makes a show of showing her suit's helmet falling from the explosion, but somehow she survives, sending out a distress message in the final mission and using her influence after the war to assist refugees at the Lighthouse.
• Politically Active Princess: She's the public face of the Erusean Royal Family who strengthens her government's relationship with the ordinary Erusean population. She even attracts an audience with Osean troops and convicts, all of whom would rather have the war end sooner. However, she's just a puppet meant to increase morale and lengthen the war. After the war, she's the only known survivor of the Erusean Royal Family.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: After recovering from her Break the Cutie moment, Cossette takes proactive measures to try and end the war. Notably, she is the one that helps shut down the Arsenal Bird’s shield to give the Osean/Erusean coalition a chance to finally destroy it.
• Sheltered Aristocrat: Implied, since her speeches about making a clean war and vying for a quick and painless victory were sincere. Once reality slaps her hard in the face, she's left a barely-functional wreck for a while, and once she gets the full political situation she immediately takes a more measured stance.
• Spanner in the Works: If she didn’t survive getting a missile exploding near her, Hugin and Munin would have succeeded in their plan to use the Lighthouse to transmit their data to drone factories all over Usea.
• Tokyo Rose: She's more of an indirect example. Her pro-Erusea speeches on TV aren't meant to demoralise Osean troops, but the penal Spare Squadron tune in to them and seem to agree with what she says about the war.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: The Girly Girl to Avril Mead's Tomboy. She's a prim and proper lady who's a member of the royalty while Avril is a rough ex-convict who swears like nobody's business, yet the two strike a fast friendship once Avril saves Cossette from the unfriendly Erusean forces.
• Took a Level in Badass: Cossette goes from a propaganda piece to an Action Girl that risks her life going into the Space Elevator to stop the Arsenal Bird, and after the war she helps bring about peace.
• Unwitting Pawn: She's being manipulated by some of the younger warmongering Erusean officers into declaring war on Osea. By the time she realized her mistake, her country is all but ruined from the chaos.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: She truly believes that by declaring war on Osea, she's doing what was best for her people. As soon as she realizes how wrong she is, she immediately tries her best to help bring about peace.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: It's implied that when Farbanti fell to Osean control, that the Erusean radicals tried to have her killed as they no longer had any use for her.

General Édouard Labarthe

A senior officer in the Erusean military who attempts to defect to Osea near the end of the war.

• Good Old Ways: He described himself as a true conservative in the Erusean government, with him having a low opinion of using drones to replace human pilots in warfare (which was the idea of the younger radical officers). Considering the issue of the next generation of killer drones with Mihaly's flight data, Labarthe just might be right.
• The Mole: He's actually an informant for the Oseans, having leaked tons of info to them ever since the start of the war. With the fall of Farbanti and the deaths of most of Erusea's leadership, Labarthe finally decides to make the defection official in order to take command of the rest of the Erusean forces and put an end to the war.
• Mr. Exposition: He's the one who revealed the truth behind the real cause of the war. It was all the work of some younger, radical Erusean officers, who are driven by the AI technology they received from Belka and use it to develop an advanced drone army. Their performance goes beyond all expectations, so they use this to gain public opinion and opportunists into declaring war on Osea, even manipulating Princess Cossette herself as well.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: He's one of the more decent Eruseans in the game, which makes sense considering that he was a mole for Osea all along, having secretly providing information for the Osean Army in order to put an end to the war that he knows is slowly destroying their country. Many Eruseans hold him in high regard and even follow him in the defection after the whole satellite attack chaos. Even some of the radicals still hold him with some respect, with some of the radio chatter you can hear being from some radicals trying to peacefully convince the general to support the war.
• Shoot the Shaggy Dog: After everything you did to protect him in the Escort Mission, his helicopter ends up getting shot down by an F-16 presumably under the command of Osean AWACS Argus, who has claimed that Captain Karl, who is also in the helicopter, is an imposter. This also means the conservative Erusean factions won't cooperate with Osea due to the perceived betrayal.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Dies in the very mission he's introduced in.

The Erusean Radicals

A faction in the Erusean military compromised of young Erusean Officers that pushed for the advancement of Erusea’s drone program.

• A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Defied. When the satellite network is destroyed, the AIs controlling their drone army go haywire, and they’re forced to reprogram them into ‘Slave Mode’.
• Attack Drone: They use up the bulk of Erusea’s Drone Army on the frontlines against the IUN and Osea.
• Big Bad Wannabe: They think that with their drone army, that they’ll be able to restore Erusea to its former glory. Unfortunately for them, the AIs controlling the drones become a much greater threat than the Radicals, for when Hugin and Munin went online, they attempted to start a Robot War that would have most likely spelled doom for all of humanity.
• Dragon-in-Chief: They manipulated Cossette into declaring war on Osea and used her as a morale and propaganda mouthpiece, placing her as the innocent, righteous princess waging a war of self-defence and decolonisation while the Radicals worked on war efforts and invasion plans.
• Dragon with an Agenda: While Cossette was led to believe that she was protecting her people from encroaching Osean influence, the Radicals were seeking to restore Erusea to its former glory.
• Enemy Civil War: When the satellite network is taken out, they start fighting against the Conservative faction, as well as Osean and local IUN forces. Shilage and Voslage (amongst other states that want independence) break away in the chaos and get targeted by the Radicals as well.
• Foreshadowing: Their existence is hinted at in the mission ‘Rescue’, when one of the officers in the control room of the Lighthouse says that the older generation doesn’t understand how to use the drones.
• I Have Your Wife: They make sure that Mihaly continues to cooperate with them after the satellite network is taken out, by having Dr. Schroeder take his granddaughters with him to the Lighthouse. It doesn't last long, as Mihaly is downed by Trigger and Schroeder suffers a crisis of purpose, shutting down his own factory.
• The Man Behind the Man: Labarthe reveals their existence in the mission ‘Last Hope’, explaining that the expansion of the frontlines and the deployment of the drones was all their doing, and that Cossette was just a puppet to their plans.
• Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: They manipulated Cossette into thinking that a war with Osea was the best way to protect the people of Erusea. It was a ruse that they used in the hopes that they would be able to restore Erusea to its former glory with their drone army.
• Pragmatic Villainy: Their drones not causing civilian casualties was not out of moral obligation, but pure pragmatism, as it led to a number of nations to support them against Osea.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: They pushed for the advancement of the drone technology to produce an unstoppable army that was not limited to human restrictions. They got their wish in the form of Hugin and Munin, who tried to start a Robot War with the data that they had Dr. Schroeder collect from Mihaly. And let's not forget about Nemo...
• Villain Respect: Despite the fact that Labarthe is against them, they still respect him as their superior officer, and some even try to convince him to join them.
• Villain with Good Publicity: When they launched their drone army against Osea, they caused zero civilian casualties. When Osea launched a counterattack, that got civilians killed, it caused a number of nations to support Erusea. Once Belkan revanchist involvement is shown, this all goes out the window.
• Walking Spoiler:While their existence is hinted at early on, it's not until the final five missions that they appear in the game.
• Would Not Shoot a Civilian: Deconstructed. The fact that their drone army caused zero civilian casualties had won them support from other nations. In other words, they didn’t harm civilians for moral reasons, but for pragmatic reasons.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Cossette was nothing more than a puppet to them. When Farbanti had fallen to Osean control, they tried to have her killed, as they no longer had any use for her.

The Erusean Conservatives

A faction in the Erusean military compromised of older officers who opposed the use of the drones.

• A.I. Is a Crapshoot: One of the reasons why they were critical about the drone army was because of the possibility that the AIs could turn on them. Which is what happened when the satellite network was destroyed by a simultaneous A-Sat strike by Osea and Erusea, and when Hugin and Munin went online.
• Clarke's Third Law: To them, the technology behind the drone army is the equivalent to witchcraft and alchemy, which is why they opposed to becoming too reliant on the drones.
• Enemy Civil War: When the satellite network is destroyed, they start fighting against the Radical faction.
• Fantastic Racism: They hold Belkans in very low regard on account of the numerous wars that happened in part due to Belkan instigation and technology. When it's revealed that the Radicals used Belkan tech to develop Erusea's drone army, the Conservatives in retaliation proceed to kill any Belkan national that they can find, regardless of whether they were involved with the Radicals or not.
• Foreshadowing: Their existence is hinted at in the mission ‘Rescue’ when they order the control room in the Lighthouse to fire ‘warning shots’ at Mother Goose One, to which the Arsenal Bird's control officer remarks that they are "old timers" that do not understand how the drones work.
• Good Old Ways: They prefer not to use drones, relying on human pilots instead.
• Mêlée à Trois: When General Édouard Labarthe was killed by Oseans due to being fed false information about Captain Karl being an imposter, they start fighting against the Oseans as well as the Radicals. At least until the last two missions.
• Not Worth Killing: When they drove the Radicals away from Cossette’s downed plane, they left the princess behind, not bothering to either save her or even kill her.
• Poor Communication Kills: They fought against the Oseans as well as the Radicals on Tyler Island due to miscommunication.
• Walking Spoiler: It's not until the last five missions of the game when their existence is revealed by Labarthe. And even then, when Labarthe is killed, they temporarily fight against the Oseans until the last two missions.
• Would Hurt a Child: They had no problems with killing the families of the Belkan scientists who were living on Tyler Island. They even tried to shoot down Schroeder's plane, despite the fact that Mihaly's granddaughters were onboard said place.

The 11th Tactical Squadron of the 1st Special Operations Wing of the Sotoan Air Force, the Shadow Squadron are a large group of aces piloting various aircraft

• Ace Pilot: Mihaly stands out, but everyone qualifies; them showing up in a mission is usually bad news for every Osean in the area.
• Cool Plane: Try a whole fleet of them. The more advanced plane, the more dangerous they are, and the lower their squadron number.
• Dark Is Evil: The feared enemy air force of the warmongering Sotoan nation, with all black planes.
• The Dreaded: Oh very much so.
• Elite Mooks: Try a whole special air force of them.
• Elites Are More Glamorous: All black planes with yellow stripes, with moon-themed unit names, and horsemen emblems against varying moon phase backdrops? Say it ain't so!
• Expy: Of the Belkan Air Force, which feature a large array of fighter wings sent to fight you, with personalized intros. The difference? They're all united under one unit, the Shadows, and have their own emblem and plane heirarchy based on how good they are.
• Numerical Theme Naming: If Ares (Shadow 22) and Shadow 55 are any indication, it's that wing commanders receive callsign numbers as multiples of "eleven", and that their units are named after their signs (Lux Lunae's wing is called the 55th, while Ares' wing would be called the 22nd). The Shadow Squadron's whole number is called "111", after the 1st Special Operations Wing - 11th Tactical Squadron.
• Rank Scales with Asskicking: The most dangerous squads have smaller numbers (e.g. Ares, in the advanced Felon, would have callsign Shadow 22 and be the wing leader of his unit, which would be called the Shadows' 22nd Unit). Lesser-ranked squads would have larger numbers (e.g. Lux Lunae would be called the 55th Unit, and the lowest thus far would be called the 165th Unit (thanks to there being a Shadow 166 and Shadow 167)).
• Rule of Symbolism: Their emblems are a Sagittarius centaur archer against a moon phase backdrop. However, lower-ranked squadrons use the waxing crescent, mid-ranked units like the 55th Lux Lunae, and the Shadows' 44th Unit have the waxing gibbous, while their most prestigious aces like 'Shadow 22 'Ares has the full moon'' symbol on already their most advanced planes like the Felon.
• You Are Number Six: Many of the lesser squadrons shown thus far have numbers, with major aces like Ares having his own established name.
• Vehicle-Based Characterization: As a whole - the more badass you are in the battlefield, the more advanced planes you and your unit get. Ares, the leading man, has a SU-57 Felon, while the others like Shadow 55 of the Lux Lunae wing, get the older MIG-31 Foxhound.

Ares, aka Shadow 22

Voiced by: Creator/ [EN], Creator/ [JP]

The main enemy ace of the Sotan Air Force, and the leading rival of the game. As Shadow 22, Ares is the feared Ace among his peers. He pilots the advanced, fifth generation SU-57 "Felon"

• Ace Pilot: Natch.
• Anti-Villain:
• Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: To Mihaly A. Shilage and VideoGame/AceCombat4Shattered Skies Yellow 13. Ares is younger while piloting a newer generation of Russian airplanes, and uses his own skill as opposed to drone technology. He also doesn't engage in Blood Knight tendencies, and is an outright Combat Pragmatist. And because he is respected as an ace, and has arguably an army of squadmates, he is not only afforded the most advanced conventional fighter of his army, but he is definitely not exhausted due to a lack of rest and spare parts unlike Yellow 13 (if the Shadows' having many smaller wing units like Lux Lunae) is to go by.
• The Dreaded: Serves as this against the FCU.
• Fighting Fingerprint: His spinning backwards-launching missiles, called the "Parthian Shot", certainly counts.
• One-Man Army:
• Rank Scales with Asskicking: It's implied that he's among their most dangerous ace, if not the most dangerous, given that his callsign is Shadow 22, (and implied to be the leader of his own 22nd Unit). Were there an 11th Unit, that would make him the second most dangerous fighter pilot and second-ranked squadron commander of the Shadows as a whole.
• Recurring Boss:
• Red Baron: Ares, of course.
• Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: "Ares" is the Greek God of War - fitting for an enemy ace feared among the warmongering Sotoans.
• The Rival: Is shaping up to be Rex's own rival.
• Signature Move: Ares uses his "Parthian Shot" - where he fires the missiles backwards by spinning his SU-57.
• The Stoic: At least as far as Rex is involved.
• Vehicle-Based Characterization: The SU-57 Felon that Ares flies is a state of the art, fifth-gen aircraft equipped with the latest technologies such as thrust vectoring that not only reflects his esteem and the reputation he's earned among his fellow Sotoans, but also his skill as a fighter pilot. Being the first enemy ace to explicitly use the Felon as his flagship implies that he's racked up quite the body count, and is their leading man.
• World's Strongest Man: At least as far as the Shadows are concerned. His unit, features a full moon sigil on the tail of his Felon, implying that he is among the most elite of the Shadow Squadron, which are already elite by themselves.
• Worthy Opponent: Rex, aka "Wings", is someone he takes dead seriously.

Shadow 55

One of the many elite aces of the Shadow Squadron.

• Ace Pilot: He's one of the squad leaders of Shadow Squadron, and the commander of his own Lux Lunae team.
• Elite Mooks: Emphasis on the "mook" part - they only have older planes to protect the Podarges, compared to their ace Ares.
• Mauve Shirt: They go down in their debut mission failing to protect the Podarge supply transports.
• Vehicle-Based Characterization: With his men piloting the MIG-31B speedy Foxhound interceptors like Schwarze Team before him, it's plain as day that Lux Lunae is a group of fast-moving, aggressive flyers ... whose zeal in taking down Wings shows how eager they are for the cause. They're only held back by their older planes, which serve as them not having earned their place in the upper ranks yet.

Seymour

Voiced by: Stephen Weese [EN]

A member of the Sol Squadron. His callsign is Sol 3.

• Fighting for a Homeland: Following Erusea’s collapse into civil war, Seymour defects with the rest of Sol Squadron and declare independence for their homeland of Voslage from Erusea.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: He and Wit usually stick around each other, and Seymour looks up to him, saying that if there's anyone who should lead the squadron in Mihaly's place, it's Wit. He doesn't take it well when the surviving RAVEN shoots down and kills Wit during the final battle, and asks you to let him avenge Wit, though by this point you're really the only one capable of doing anything to the drones.
• Sole Survivor: If Wit is killed by the drones in the final mission, by the end of the game, he's the only one of his squadron who still remained flying, as Mihaly was shot down and crippled, and the other Sol members did not return for the finale.

Hermann

A member of Sol Squadron, who traces his lineage from Voslage. His callsign is Sol 4. Prior to serving in the squadron, he was known to be a pro-Voslagian activist.

Roald

A member of Sol Squadron, who is also from Voslage. His callsign is Sol 5. Hermann was responsible for recruiting him to the squadron.

• Butt-Monkey: Both times you engage Sol Squadron, he's the first to get shot down. It may not be coincidence that Wit left him behind for the attack on the Arsenal Bird.

Webb

A member of the Shark Squadron. His callsign is Shark 1.

• Affably Evil: Affable? Hell yes - he talks about the beauty of the island and fishing in his squadron intro. Evil? Barely qualifies, and that's only by association with the Sotoan invaders, where his squadron and homeland defected to.
• Anti-Villain: Type IV - he is nothing more than a soldier who respects the wishes of his squadmates, and actually bears no hatred or ideology against you. He wants to put his Sharks first and foremost. He primarily defends Newfield Island when Joker Flight has to sink the Sotoan navy docked there.
• Fighting for a Homeland: When Newfield Island chose to defect to Sotoa, alongside the majority of Shark Squadron, Webb went along with the rest.
• Papa Wolf: Part of the reason why he goes against you - he treats his fellow Shark squadmates like family, and he wants to make sure that his own son, who goes to school on Newfield Island, stays safe.