FA-38 Black Shark

Lore & Background

Unlike standard fleet fighters that parade in formation, the Black Shark exists only in the imaginations of fans and modders—hoarded for elite squadrons and special operations units in fictional scenarios. Its dark livery is a product of creative design, not official canon. The aircraft's development history is entirely fan-constructed, a maze of redacted documents and dead-end leads that drive aviation enthusiasts into fevered debates about its hypothetical capabilities. No flight-test data has ever been officially recorded, as the aircraft has never been produced or flown.

In Their Own Story

The cockpit hummed with the low thrum of engines pushing past their rated limits as the pilot banked hard left, the horizon tilting into a violent blur. Below, the jagged peaks of the Erusean mountains melted into a gray smear. 'Black Shark One, you're clear,' came the crackling voice of ground control, barely audible over the scream of air against the canopy. With a surge of afterburner flame that painted the night in a brief, angry orange, the FA-38 punched through the cloud layer, emerging into a starlit sky just as enemy radar locked onto its position. In that split second—the whine of the warning system, the cold sweat on the pilot's brow—the legend was forged.

Reader's Guide

The FA-38 Black Shark operates as a top-tier air superiority platform, leveraging advanced thrust-vectoring to carve through tight turns and execute rapid altitude changes that would tear lesser airframes apart. Its integrated sensor suite paints a real-time threat picture across the pilot's HUD, enabling simultaneous engagement of multiple targets with surgical precision. In combat, the aircraft is a knife-fighter: it wins by out-turning, not out-gunning. Its design prioritizes pilot survival through a reinforced titanium frame and triple-redundant flight systems, allowing it to shrug off flak bursts that would cripple standard fighters. Only the most disciplined aviators—those who can think three moves ahead while pulling 9 Gs—are cleared to fly the Black Shark. Its performance envelope is a razor's edge, demanding precise handling and split-second decisions under the crushing weight of extreme pressure.

Did You Know?

• The FA-38 Black Shark is a fan-made aircraft with no official appearance in any Ace Combat game, including Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy.
• The claim that the F-22A was 'once the pride of the Blue Angels' is false; the Blue Angels have never flown the F-22A—they operate F/A-18 Hornets and previously flew A-4 Skyhawks, F-11 Tigers, etc.
• Its dark color scheme has become iconic among fans, symbolizing the 'shadow' operations it was designed for in fan fiction—and spawning a thousand forum threads debating whether its paint absorbed radar or simply looked