Ace Combat Infinity/Nicknames

Nicknames are personal accolades in Ace Combat Infinity. They are unlocked by achieving certain feats or reaching a certain rank with an aircraft through the Aircraft Tree system.

Rank
When a player reaches a certain rank, that rank will be available as a nickname. The available player ranks, which can be used as nicknames once they are achieved, are as follows:


 * Warrant Officer
 * Second Lieutenant
 * First Lieutenant
 * Captain
 * Major
 * Lieutenant Colonel
 * Colonel
 * Brigadier General

Aircraft Lv. Up
The following nicknames are awarded by leveling up the respective aircraft to the respective level.

Campaign
The following nicknames are awarded by completing certain tasks in the Campaign mode.

Event Rewards
The following nicknames were awarded during Ranking Tournaments.

Online Co-Op Missions
The following nicknames are awarded by sortieing in certain co-op missions a certain number of times.

Challenge Rewards
The following nicknames are awarded upon the completion of Challenges.

Ticket Exchange
The following nicknames were available through the Special Supply Ticket Catalogue. Each one costed 50 Special Supply Tickets.


 * Gilgamesh
 * Ki
 * Mappy
 * Goro
 * Gosenzo
 * Jean-Louis
 * GALAXIAN
 * DIG DUG
 * POOKA
 * Omega 11
 * Solvalou

Other
The following nicknames were awarded by some means not listed above.

Beta Nicknames
These nicknames were only available during the beta, and are not available anymore.

Unavailable Nicknames
These nicknames were only seen in trailers.
 * Enemy of the People
 * Fear From The Sky
 * Grendel
 * Pixy of Lake
 * Steel Gunner
 * UGSF
 * Vermillion

Trivia

 * Nicknames only show up in the intro and outro of Online Co-Op Missions and Team Deathmatch and in a lobby below the player roster (the latter only to a player itself).
 * Rank Second Lieutenant must be reached to change nicknames.
 * Cool Hand was the callsign of the protagonist from the 1986 Stephen Coonts' novel (and 1991 movie based on it) Flight of the Intruder.
 * A Microburst is a type of wind draft occuring in tornadoes and thunderstorms. It starts with a strong downburst, which then hits the ground, spreads in a cirle around the point of impact and raises back up - similarly to how the Harrier's VTOL mode operates.
 * The F/A-18F Super Hornet's Lv. 10 nickname Watch the Angles, if playing on Japanese rather than English, translates to "Beware of Horn", referring to a rhino's horn since the United States Navy refers to the Super Hornet as the Rhino.
 * Sturmovik, the nickname for upgrading the Su-25TM Frogfoot to Lv.3, is russian for "attacker". It's commonly associated with the, a famous Soviet Attack Plane from the second World War.
 * Ski Jumper, the nickname for upgrading the Su-33 Flanker-D to Lv.3, refers to the fact that the Su-33 Flanker-D lifts off of the, which has a ski jump at the end of the runway.
 * Golden Eagle, the nickname for upgrading the Su-47 Berkut to Lv.3, refers to the direct translation of the namesake aircraft.
 * Grey Ghost, the nickname for upgrading the YF-23 Black Widow II to Lv.10, refers to the second YF-23A prototype.
 * The Stuka Bloodline, the nickname for upgrading the A-10A Thunderbolt II to Lv.15, refers to the World War 2-era dive bomber, the . Additionally, consultations from the most decorated ace of this type,, were used in the development of the A-10.
 * 40 Seconds, the nickname for upgrading the F-15C Eagle to Lv.15, refers to Col., a USAF fighter pilot and strategist whose energy-manuverability theories helped in developing the F-15. During his career as an instructor pilot, Boyd claimed that, starting from a position of disadvantage in a dogfight, he could outmanuever his opponent turning his disadvantageous position into an advantageous one within 40 seconds, hence his nickname.
 * Related to the previous is the nickname Aircraft Mafia, gained by upgrading the F-16C Fighting Falcon to Lv.15. It refers to the "Fighter Mafia", a group of officers and civilian consultants within the USAF in the 1970's, who advocated for Boyd's energy-maneuverability theory as the base for the design of then future fighter aircraft. They claimed that the F-15 was still too large, heavy and expensive as a fighter, and pushed for the development of a smaller design, which ultimately resulted into the F-16.
 * Balalaika is a reference to an ace of the same name who uses a MiG-21-93 Fishbed in Ace Combat Joint Assault. This was also the popular nickname given to the aircraft for it's planform view resemblance to the instrument of the same name.
 * Spider  is a reference to an ace of the same name who uses the same aircraft, the YF-23 Black Widow II, in Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception. This was also one of the nicknames given to the first YF-23 ever built, alongside the aforementioned Black Widow II.
 * Good Loser refers to how the YF-23 lost to the YF-22 Lightning II when both competed in the Advanced Tactical Fighter competition in 1991.
 * Eye of Argus is a reference to the 100-eyed beast from Greek mythology. It could also be an oblique reference to Air Combat 22, which in reference to the same featured an AWACS going by the callsign "Argus Eyes".
 * Lightning Bird is a reference to the mythological creature of the same name from n mythology.
 * Jack Knife is another name given to a pocket knife. The way it folds could be what inspired the X-02 Wyvern's folding wings.
 * Chimera Machine may be a reference to the fact that the X-29 is made up mostly of parts from other aircraft (F-5E's fuselage, F-16's landing gear, F/A-18's single engine, etc.). The mythological Chimera was a monster also made up from parts of various animals.
 * Dragster is a term for a type of racing automobile that is open-wheeled, having long length and is capable of reaching high speeds quickly, a reference to the MiG-31B Foxhound's long fuselage and incredible speed.
 * Hero of the Russian Federation, gained by upgrading the T-50 PAK-FA to Lv.15, refers to the highest honorary title of the same name that is given to recipients who provided notable assistance to the Russian state.
 * It is also the same title given to Andrei Markov, the main antagonist in Ace Combat: Assault Horizon, who is a notable user of the PAK-FA.
 * Chief Consulting Pilot refers to the position Cynthia Bridgitte Fitzgerald holds at Neucom.
 * Overlord is a homage to, the code name for the Battle of Normandy. The Normandy landings, commonly known as D-Day, were the inspiration for the mission Operation Bunker Shot from Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies, from which the campaign and co-op missions Operation Bunker Shot and Adriatic Sea Landing Operation in Infinity were based on respectively.
 * Lilldraken is the unofficial nickname for the Saab 210, which was the testbed for the double-delta conept in the development of the J35J Draken.
 * The nicknames that are unlocked during the upgrade of the ASF-X Shinden II contain references to entities in the series that either depict or mention it in operation.
 * The 1st nickname, Sea Lightning, refers to its naval variant, the F-3C.
 * The 2nd nickname, Ridgebacks, refers to the squadron of the same name that operate the Shinden II. A special version of the squadron's aircraft was even available as a Ranking Tournament reward.
 * The 3rd nickname, Icarus, is most likely a reference to the book Ace Combat: Ikaros in the Sky.
 * Millennium, the nickname for upgrading the F-16C Fighting Falcon to Lv.20, is a reference to Han Solo's iconic YT-1300F light freighter from , the Millennium Falcon.
 * Quick Strike refers to the first proposed upgrade of the F-14 Tomcat family beyond the F-14D Super Tomcat variant, specifically on improved air-to-air and air-to-ground capabilities.
 * Grach is the nickname of the Su-25TM Frogfoot which was given by the Russian Air Force and the Russian name for, a species of birds.
 * Power Play is a reference to the Ace Combat: Assault Horizon mission of the same name, which also shares the same location of Dubai.
 * 27+ is a direct reference to the final mission of Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War, which also involves the SOLG.
 * Instant Killer refers to the huge firepower from the Zero's 20mm autocannons. During World War II, the Zero's autocannons could easily destroy any aircraft the USAAF flew, including the heavily armored bombers. However, it can also refer to the fact that the Zero lacked armor and self-sealing fuel tanks, thus the plane could be instantly destroyed by a well placed shot even from the smallest caliber anti aircraft gun.