Ace Combat: Ashes of War (IC/Closed)

[Anowa]

"Sir, are the Stovies gonna have any air cover that we need to keep an eye out for? Furthermore what are the specific flight assignments?"

"We know Ortara is in flight range for most of the combat aircraft in the Estovakian inventory. It was the easternmost airbase on the mainland, and we know the Stovies are operating out of it now. Furthermore, the Estovakian Southern fleet has a strike group in response range. Based on ELINT and SIGINT obtained in the previous weeks, it is entirely possible that both Vodnik Squadron and Vampire Squadron are in response range, they're Estovakia's equivalent to you guys. Vodnik you've already met, on your other naval engagement up north. Vampire so far has only been involved in the opening skirmishes and whittling down our pockets inland."

"Outside of the heavy hitters, the island itself has an airbase, and it's unlikely they'll be able to scramble before you nail them in the hangars. There's a smaller airstrip used for private enterprises further up the archipelago that wasn't really designed for combat craft but shouldn't be ruled out. Truthfully I don't expect there to be aerial numbers during this engagement."

"Flight assignments will arise as needed. Any intel we have on the island is two days old since that storm rolled in, so we don't even have accurate air defence locations."

[Relikai]

"A hit and run, while preserving the runway."

Rafael said as he estimated the number of hangars where aircraft might scramble for spoiling the mission. An attack minded thinker, he was considering the loadout - Mavericks are nice but expensive, and the Phantom could only hold so many. Bombs, especially guided ones, are the ingredient of choice for the man, popping one into each hangar could disable the ability of the aircraft to launch, as well as drop precise strikes where the boots would need them.

"Do we know of any infrastructure the garrison might have? Good idea to have them taken out before full alert is sounded. Can't rule out the dangers of gun-based SHORAD being turned on the troops, and the escape aircraft at the end of the mission."

[Beiarusia]

Second Lieutenant Marceline “Mooncalf” Faucheux
February 17, 2016 // Blackrock Airbase, Emmeria


The young woman was silent as she listened to the briefing. The room was dark, the only light being from the illuminated table that displayed the Area of Operations with a semi-holographic projection, and eventually the overhead lamps once that part of the briefing was concluded. With no sunlight to be concerned with, Marceline had removed her helmet, allowing it to rest atop her lap, her finger tapping idly the polarized visor that mirrored the room with orange tint. Her face, pale, was passive as Captain Cain asked for questions.

A month had passed since the fiasco at Bartolomeo Fortress. Her emotions had simmered somewhat, but the gloomy nature remained despite the best attempts of Assassin or her WSO or even her fellow countryman. She felt hollow. Truthfully, and this was upon her own self-reflection, she was ill-prepared for war, despite having experienced it firsthand at such a young age, and although she flew with her own ethics and codes and morals, the realities of the conflict had been hammered into her time and time again. Emotionally she was drained, and that carried over into physical exhaustion, and it was becoming an immense effort to simply pick herself up and out of bed every day. It'll get better, she told herself, and it was this misguided belief that allowed her to maintain even a semblance of normality. That and her stubborn determination to find the same freedom in the deep blue sky that her brother and father had achieved.

That they had both died for.

They were to be raiding Bar Island, a testing ground for electromagnetic weapons, including those meant for Emmerian battleships such as the Marigold. That was what they'd be stealing. Liberating? Marceline wasn't sure on the proper verbiage. Her Emmerian wasn't all too great anyway. Regardless, CAS after a ridiculously low-altitude approach to avoid AA with a strict timetable of only twelve minutes.

The Su-34 was airworthy just in time for SEAD. This time, no matter the odds or difficulties, she'd see the mission through to the end. Not like last time.

Would a single aircraft had made a difference? She wasn't sure, but the only way to know was to be there to find out.

---

Second Lieutenant Constance “Orchid” Amelia Lawrence Stavrica Valeriyan Mio Vanti Camilla Sylvana XI
February 17, 2016 // Blackrock Airbase, Emmeria


Meanwhile, the aristocratic young woman of Lion listened aptly to the mission briefing. Her aircraft wasn't the best for CAS, being an interceptor, but it was for the best to not focus all their attention onto one aspect of the operation. They did not expect to encounter enemy aircraft, especially considering the short amount of time allotted to them to oversee the retrieval, but they couldn't rule out an Estovakian response. Constance was more than willing to leave ground support to the professionals so that she could meet the enemy, if any, head-on. Hopefully the professionals took out the AA before it became a problem.

She did have a question though. "Twelve minutes isn't much time. Should retrieval take longer than expected, do we have any methods of detecting or mitigating an attack by the Aerial Fleet?"

[Anowa]

"Do we know of any infrastructure the garrison might have? Good idea to have them taken out before full alert is sounded. Can't rule out the dangers of gun-based SHORAD being turned on the troops, and the escape aircraft at the end of the mission."

"Based on what the Emmerian forces had laid out at the island, the barracks are at the northern end of the airfield and there are 12 recessed pits in which we stored our SHORAD and LORAD dotted around the airfield. But as far as we know, the wreckage of our own materiel may still be in those defensive pits by operation start."

"Twelve minutes isn't much time. Should retrieval take longer than expected, do we have any methods of detecting or mitigating an attack by the Aerial Fleet?"

"If worse comes to worse, a rough outline of the lethal radius of the airburst can be displayed on your radar." the officer switched screen to that of an odd looking cruise missile, "Based on data collected during the Battle of Gracemeria and the ensuing retreat to the straight. Nimbus missiles technically a form of MIRV, but without the re-entry aspect. Each missiles stores five thermobaric airburst warheads, developed from improved specs of the Multi-Purpose Burst Missile the Belkans used back in '95. Each of these warheads has a fireball of nearly 500 meters in diameter, and the shockwave can damage or destroy aircraft out to 1100 meters and cause overpressure effects on the ground from a height of nearly 2 kilometers." he switched the image again, this time showing images of the missile in action.

Gun cam footage from the left wingroot of an F-15C, opposite it's gun, what little visibility of the craft there was showed the gold pinstriping of the aerial acrobatics team livery, and the rank of 1st Lieutenant on the canopy border, but not the pilot's full name.

Four total frames showed a massive fireball and shockwave generating from a object barely visible from the footage. But the effects on the other aircraft in frame was evident, either atomised or shredded to pieces by the shockwave. The next three frames showed 4 other detonations in proximity, with the last few frames showing the shockwave buffet the recording craft hard enough to crack the canopy and display the start of a flatspin. The reel continued for a few more seconds showing a recovery from the spin before looping. There was no audio, though the visibility of over twenty aircraft being destroyed in a single awful second said enough.

"This is the only actual footage we have of their use, on merit of the Golden Doves being on a practice flight that day. As you can see, the only real defence you have is to evade like hell if you see a terminal guidance drone tailing you." the image switched back to the island, "If, for whatever reason, you have to stay past 12 minutes do not maintain any element, it'll only make a ample target."