Ace Combat 8 Mission 6: protect the helicopters and clear Drinwich Airfield

Prepare to defend two routes

PowerPyx’s Mission 6 walkthrough identifies two groups of four Chinooks, Spread 1 and Spread 2. Zoom out the minimap to locate their routes and nearby TGTs, and use Dealer’s radio instructions to reassess where help is needed.

Before launch, inspect your actual equipment for both air and ground targets. The publisher’s loadout advice is to match the briefing’s targets; this guide does not require an endgame aircraft for a first clear. Do not plan around a second special weapon you cannot yet equip: the Campaign second-slot report places that unlock after this mission.

Follow the escort through the airfield phase

1. Remove aircraft threatening either helicopter group, then clear ground threats ahead of their movement. Alternate attention between the groups.
2. After the helicopters land, intercept the transport leaving the base, then turn toward the bombers arriving from the south.
3. Respond to the teams’ reports of ground resistance. Keep alternating between the ground targets and incoming bomber waves.
4. Continue through the scripted explosion and mission end; verify the completion result.

This condenses the author’s published route. It does not establish an exact score cutoff for your difficulty or guarantee that every helicopter survives.

Choose the next attempt by the failure

• A helicopter group is lost: note which group and the nearby attacker. On the retry, return to that group before extending a pursuit elsewhere.
• The wrong target stays selected: give yourself approach room, check the selected label and use the target-selection comparison.
• You reach the airfield but still fail: do not treat landing as completion. Compare the escape, bomber and ground-resistance stages with your last attempt.

These are editorial troubleshooting checks based on the route, not separately tested recovery methods. Record your difficulty, failed phase and loadout before changing one choice. A mission clear is the immediate success criterion; an S rank or collection reward requires its own result.

Keep Flamma collection separate

The existing named-ace directory records Flamma’s timed TGT condition and the collection difficulty gate. If that extra chase is compromising the escort, finish the mission first and return for the record later. This page’s clear route does not promise the ace and a rank reward in the same attempt.