”It wasn’t much of a plane. More like a trash can with wings”
-Avril ‘Scrap Queen’ Mead (Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown)

First (real) post in over a year

Searcher Drone

Trash can with wings

Info

From Acepedia Fandom page
The Searcher, referred to as Marker Drone in Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation, is a reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicle. It is one of the earliest unmanned aircraft in the Strangereal universe and considered to be a pioneer of the technology.

Strangereal

A Searcher drone was featured on the cover of Our Science's "Era of the Drones" magazine in early 2006. Avril Mead spotted one flying over an Osean scrapyard.

The Yuktobanian military operated Searchers as short-range recon drones. At the onset of the Circum-Pacific War, a Yuktobanian spy ship deployed several Searchers near Sand Island Air Force Base. The Wardog Squadron destroyed all of them before they could return to the vessel.

The Estovakian military modified Searchers to provide guidance for the P-1112 Aigaion's Nimbus missile system. The Emmerian Air Force first learned of the drones during the battle of the Selumna Peaks. Garuda Team shot down most of the drones to help other Emmerian pilots in retreating from the area. The Aigaion later deployed the drones again during the liberation of San Loma, but Emmeria's foreknowledge of them allowed them to dodge the Nimbus strikes and minimize casualties.

Infinity

During Operation Gambit, the Sons of Troia deployed Searchers on a reconnaissance mission above Tokyo. Bone Arrow Squadron shot down all of them.

From what I can find
The Searcher drone featured in 4 Ace Combat games:
-Ace Combat Infinity
-Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War
-Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation
-Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown

Photo Gallery

Wouldn’t be a Neruneten post without the absolutely amazing photos crafted by my friend Erc90F4RU go check him out!
now

Notes

1-I couldn’t get any real scale to fit the aircraft’s design, so I improvised and based the scale off of the IAI Searcher.
2-Flight model is designed for realism and not how the aircraft is depicted in Ace Combat 6.
3-Aircraft is very fragile and slow to take-off, stalls easily.
4-Simplistic model may build an upgraded one
5-I’m getting back into building.
6-Yes I know that the Searcher has a bigger bottom of fuselage than top
7-Landing gear was added from model of IAI Searcher and "Our Science: Era of the Drones"
8-Insperation:

That's it for now guys! Happy 2025!