Associate asked interesting question.

Is there any kind of listing of "modern" jet aces? And are any of those
in service today?

I'd guess best bet are the Israelis. Elsewhere some are from Vietnam
(US, Vietnam, Russian?) and what else?

jok

There are several websites and a number of books. The Israelis have over 35
pilots who qualify as ace with scores from 5 to 17. There last ace probably
qualfied in the early 1980's. Some of them are certainly still in the reserves
if not active duty. Giora Even who scored 17 was still flying reserve fighter
missions in the F-16 in his late 50s just a few years ago.

There are apparently quite a number of aces in Iran from the war against Iraq.
I am not sure how historians or other experts greet their claims which are
apparently only recently known in the west.

The US had two pilot aces in Vietnam, one Navy and one Air Force each claiming
five and three Weapons Officers two Air Force and one Navy. As important as
the rear seater is in a two seat fighter aircraft there is to me something a
little disengenuous about crediting them as aces. For example both Navy aces
flew together as a team. To compare their claims at first glance it seems they
downed ten aircraft together and there is a photo of thier aircraft with ten
victory markings but in fact together they only destroyed five. Of the Air
Forces Weapons Officer aces one scored four with the one pilot ace.

The Vietnamese had at least a dozen aces and maybe more. The Vietnamese did
include drones in thier victory claims. At least one Vietnamese ace has had
his 7 claims studied and there is a corresponding American loss for every
claim.

I don't think there is a valid claim for a fighter ace since the early 1980s.
For Desert Storm and the campaigns over the Balkans the highest total appears
to be 3. For the Fleet Air Arm in the Falklands I think the highest score was
4.

One last area is the Peruvian aerial drug smuggling interdiction campaign where
dozens of aircraft have been shot down. I hardly think this qualifies as air
combat though.

John Dupre'