Shorebirds

Shorebirds is the first campaign mission of Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War. While attempting to force a spy plane to land, the player is ambushed by unknown enemy fighters and must shoot them down.

Objectives

Initial

The primary focus of the mission is to follow and force a spy plane of unknown origin to land. Destroying it fails the mission. After a short time, four MiG-21bis fighters will appear from the west and attack, but cannot be targeted due to AWACS Thunderhead ordering the player to not fire.

Mission Update

After Heartbreak One gives permission to open fire, the four fighters become marked as TGTs and the player must shoot them down. Once they are shot down, another wave will spawn. This continues until the recon plane crashes or four waves spawn, whichever comes first, after which no more waves will appear. Shooting down all planes in the final wave ends the mission.^[1]

Enemies List

The following enemy lists have been verified with the Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War Perfect Guide.^[1]

Standard Units

Section		Unit	Points	Count	Notes
Initial		SR-71	-	1	Do not attack
Mission Update		MiG-21bis	220	4–16	[note 1]

Special Units

	Unit	Points	Minimum Difficulty	Notes
	Hawk "GIGANTOR"	240	Normal	[note 2]

S Rank

Achieving an S rank on this mission requires earning 1,760 points. If the player shoots down two waves, they will have enough points for an S rank.^[1]

Gallery

• 
  Opening title
• 
  Briefing
• 
• 
  Beta image showing Jack Bartlett in an F-5E
• 
  Blaze in action
• 
  Early concept art of the opening scene.
• 
  Ace Combat 5 Mission 1 overture (in 16:9 full screen)

Trivia

• Despite appearing solely in this level, the SR-71 Blackbird is unusually detailed. Flying close to it, one can see YAF markings on the sides and the words "Yuktobanian Air Force" painted in white letters on the top, revealing its allegiance.
• In early concept artwork of the game's opening, the aircraft used in Nagase's introduction were aircraft highly resembling Yakovlev Yak-28 bombers.

Footnotes

References