A huge help for your hunt in this game's Platinum is the ADF-01 FALKEN, one of the two secret aircraft you can unlock. The other is the X-02 Wyvern, but the ADF-01 FALKEN is much faster to unlock and it comes with the TLS, a Tactical Laser System weapon! This laser is a one-hit kill on almost every enemy unit in the game, and you get 14 shots of it and each shot lasts for about 10 seconds!
To unlock the ADF-01 FALKEN, you need to destroy five secret hangars in the game. If you fly really close to them, you can tell they're FALKEN hangars by their grey and red colors. Destroying them will cause the AWACS to say this line: "Mechanical parts discovered in destroyed enemy facility. We'll have the ground forces retrieve them later." If you hear that line, you've destroyed the FALKEN hangar for that mission.
The five hangars are located in the following missions. You can destroy them on any difficulty and you can do it in Free Mission, it doesn't have to be in a campaign run.
Mission 12A "Powder Keg" -- when you spawn, follow the river eastward until you see the hangar in plain view.
Mission 12B "Four Horsemen" -- after you penetrate the radar net, the hangar will be hanging out (haha...) near the area with the smokestacks.
Mission 16A "Desert Arrow" -- the hangar is located between the two enemy bases, you should spot it naturally while escorting your allies.
Mission 16B "Desert Lightning" -- the hangar is hanging out northwest of the oil facility, along the river flowing north-south.
Mission 27 "ACES" -- the hangar is located among the ground installations, you'll spot it pretty easily.
The ADF-01 FALKEN's price tag is the scariest part about it. You'll need Ƶ826,000 to purchase just one of them. (There's no point in purchasing multiple units for your wingmen, they never use the TLS.) But trust me, you'll definitely want to spend that money. Sell everything you own, repeat missions as much as possible, and get that FALKEN! Once you do, just use the FALKEN for every mission and you'll see how easy the laser makes it.