V2
- "...a far more powerful weapon than the two tactical nukes that the Belkans used in the last war ... it could wipe out half of all the large cities in either Osea or Yuktobania."
- ― Pops[1]
V2 was a multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRV)—a ballistic missile payload carrying multiple warheads—developed by the Belkan Federation during the Cold War. It was the final result of Project Pendragon, a military program headed by Anton Kupchenko aimed at developing mass retaliation weapons.[2]
Only two working V2s are known to have existed: one was destroyed at Avalon Dam, Belka in 1995,[3] and the other was destroyed over Oured Bay in 2010.[4]
Etymology
Project Pendragon's name is derived from the surname of several Kings of the Britons in Arthurian legend, most notably Uther Pendragon, father of King Arthur.
V2 itself is named after the V-2 rocket developed in Nazi Germany during World War II. The V-2 was the first successful, long-range ballistic missile ever developed in real life.
Description
Each V2 was designed to carry W87 thermonuclear warheads[5] with enough power to "wipe out" half of all major cities in either Yuktobania or Osea.[1][6] The V2's initial development blueprints indicated that it would carry eight reentry vehicles: two vehicles carrying a W87 warhead, and six dummy vehicles.[5] To cause the stated damage estimate, all eight vehicles would have to be carrying W87 warheads.[1][6] To achieve targeting, the missile received coordinates from an orbiting satellite, which relayed the information to the launch computers stored inside Avalon.[citation needed]
The Avalon Dam V2 facility had three launch phases: opening the silo's oxygen valves, activating the missile's turbopump systems, and configuring the gyroscope stabilizers on its inertial navigation system.[7] The Avalon V2 could also receive launch commands from the ADFX-02 Morgan.[3]
History
Belkan War
The V2 was first conceived in 1985 within Project Pendragon, which also helped develop chemical laser cannons.[2] A fully-functional V2 was developed around the time of Belka's 1988 Federal Law Review and equipped to an ICBM hidden in silos beneath the waters of the Avalon Dam reservoir.[2]
The Osean Federation discovered the weapon's existence during the Belkan War, after the liberation of Ustio. They led the Allied Forces to storm the Belkan fortress of Glatisant under the pretext of a "nuclear arms inspection". The Allied Forces failed to find any evidence of the project.[8]
In the months following Belka's surrender, Avalon Dam and the V2 within were seized by A World With No Boundaries. On December 31, the terrorists attempted to launch the V2 towards multiple major cities and resource facilities on the Osean continent to destabilize the global economy.[9] Cipher flew into Avalon Dam and destroyed the launch control modules, halting the V2's launch.[7]
Larry Foulke entered the airspace in the ADFX-02 Morgan and remotely launched the V2. Cipher engaged Foulke and shot down the Morgan before the V2 could initiate re-entry. The missile harmlessly self-destructed over the dam.[3]
Circum-Pacific War
At some point, Belka developed a second V2, which remained unused until 2010. During the Circum-Pacific War, the Grey Men seized control of Basset Space Center, its mass driver, and the Strategic Orbital Linear Gun, using the mass driver[10] to load the V2 onto the SOLG. The SOLG was thus primed to drop the V2 in a similar manner to its Kinetic Energy Weapon shells.[1]
Major Nastasya Vasilievna Obertas gained access to an encrypted disk carrying the V2's development plans and blueprints, which she shared with Razgriz Squadron and the Kestrel Fleet.[10] After they decrypted it, the Kestrel Fleet launched an operation to sever the Grey Men's connection to the SOLG and prevent the SOLG from dropping the V2.[1] Upon doing so, a fail-safe on the SOLG activated, plummeting the satellite to crash into Oured to forcibly detonate the V2. Razgriz intercepted and destroyed the SOLG, causing the V2 to explode in the air over Oured Bay.[11]
Gallery
The V2's MIRV trajectory
The V2 launching from Avalon
The V2 detonates over Avalon Dam
Trivia
- The V2 "post-boost vehicle" was mistranslated on the blueprints as "Post busuto biguru".
- A string of numbers is shown on the blueprints. It does not properly convert from binary to ASCII.
00 01 00 01 11 11 1011 10 11 10 00 00 1101 00 11 10 01 11 1100 10 11 01 01 01 0000 01 10 10 11 00 01
- The ICBM carrying the V2 in Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War uses the same model as the large missile in Megalith's central silo from Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies.
- Both V2s, which were respectively intended to usher in new eras, were destroyed on December 31, the eve of the new year.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Mission 27: "ACES", Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Aces At War: A History, pages 134–135.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Mission 18: "Zero", Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War.
- ↑ Mission 27+: "The Unsung War", Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Aces At War: A History, page 050.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Scene 26: "ACES #2", Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Mission 17: "The Valley of Kings", Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War.
- ↑ Mission 07: "Bastion", Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War.
- ↑ Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War Perfect Guide Book, page 176.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Scene 23: "Heartbreak One #2", Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War.
- ↑ Scene 28: "The Unsung War", Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War.