Balaur
The Balaur[a] was an large railgun operated by the terrorist organization Valahia in Ace Combat: Joint Assault.
Description
Two variants of the Balaur have been confirmed to exist: one mounted aboard the Valahia's combat aircraft Spiridus and a stand-alone variant.
Spiridus
The first Balaur was mounted in the midsection of the Spiridus' airframe. The weapon first saw action in battle during the Valahia's initial assault on the Japanese capital of Tokyo, where it was used to damage Tokyo Bay, thus demonstrating the Spiridus' combat capabilities.
The Spiridus contained a heat vent at the rear of the mainframe, which caused the Spiridus' Balaur's charging to destabilize, and potentially lead to damage from overloading. Antares Squadron used this weakness to deal severe damage to the Spiridus and forced it to retreat from Tokyo towards the Izu Islands where visual contact was lost.
Ground
A second, stand-alone version of the Balaur was stationed at the Valahia's headquarters in Southern Romania. The weapon fired with the assistance of a radar network disguised as a weather station in the Serbian mountains, thus increasing its accuracy over long ranges. It is possible that the Balaur may have had an intercontinental firing range, due to the distance between Southern Romania and Serbia.
Design
The Balaur had immense destructive power, as proven by the attack on Tokyo, where it was used to obliterate the harbor section of the metropolis. Likewise, the ground-based Balaur was just as powerful; the shockwave generated by the firing burst was destructive enough to annihilate any aircraft flying too close to the cannon or within its line of fire. Furthermore, the Serbian radar network allowed for precise long-range firing, making the Balaur a weapon with great firepower and accuracy.
The ground-based Balaur had some disadvantages. Its long-range accuracy was heavily dependent on the Serbian radar stations and greatly suffered after they were knocked out by Martinez Security. It was also vulnerable at short range; unable to shoot down planes flying very fast near it, it required a large anti-aircraft detachment to protect it at point-blank range. Nevertheless, even at mid- to close-range, it remained deadly thanks to its reasonably fast traversal time and the significant collision risk posed by its long barrel.
The Balaur's barrel bears a striking visual resemblance to the barrels of Stonehenge and the Chandelier. The Balaur is smaller than the Chandelier and comparable to a Stonehenge railgun, but the barrel's positioning and size compared to the rest of the installation appears quite similar to both weapons. The necessity of ground-based anti-air artillery to defend the Balaur at close-range is also reminiscent of the other railguns' defenses.
Etymology
The Balaur is named after the Romanian mythological Balaur, described as a multi-headed dragon.
Footnotes
- ↑ Balaur (バラウール Baraūru)