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"That emblem... the red scorpion!"
― Valahia soldier in Blockade

Antares Squadron was an elite fighter squadron belonging to a private military company Martinez Security. The squadron was first deployed in Tokyo, in the outset of the Valahia Crisis and later deployed during the Golden Axe Plan in the United States of America.

History[]

Valahia Crisis[]

Antares Squadron was first seen when Martinez Security was given a special permission to take part in the military exhibition, together with the United States Navy and Japan Self-Defense Forces, in the Pacific Ocean, near the Midway Island. Their commanding officer, Frederick Burford, introduced them to the tutorial session prior to the training exercise while their progress being monitored by Burford on-board AWACS Canopus. They became acquainted with the allied Rigel Squadron, comprising of Milosz Sulejmani, Daniel Oruma, Faryd Gaviria and Tolya Kiriakov. They passed the tutorial, but Canopus detected unknown contacts from the east. Some of them broke off to engage the PMC and the military forces while the others continued west. Both Martinez squadrons and the military destroyed all the attackers, but Burford got word that Tokyo, Japan was being attacked.

Antares and Rigel Squadrons flew to Tokyo and they found that it was being attacked by an aerial base called the Spiridus. The base ripped a massive hole in Tokyo harbor with its supercharged rail-gun. Canopus told Antares that the heat vent in the rear of the Spiridus was the weak spot, so they targeted the vent to disable the rail-gun from its next attack. Anatres and Rigel went to take down the escorts while Spiridus retreated over the Pacific Ocean, disappearing from radar.

The terrorists, known as the Valahia, raided Tokyo for a second time. Antares and Rigel held the J-SDF's defensive lines in the south, before returning to the city to counter the northern attackers using a smaller airborne fortress called the Orgoi. They slowly dismantled the aircraft's weaponry while witnessing the Orgoi's astounding agility in the process.

Meanwhile, the Valahia's leader; Nicolae Dumitrescu, promised Sulejmani a better wage in exchange for his loyalty. Sulejmani, stating that money in exchange for enemy casualties was all he valued, defected with the rest of Rigel Squadron and flew to the south, much to Burford's dismay and protesting. Antares continued with the mission and destroyed the Orgoi's engines, dropping it into the bay.

They flew to Egypt under orders of the International Union Peacekeeping Force to eliminate the Valahia forces. Meanwhile, the Spiridus slipped past Antares and disappeared again over the Red Sea. However, Mr. Leblanc of the IIAO, had been kidnapped in the Middle East and had to be rescued. Antares escorted the rescue helicopter, Paper Wasp, to extract the official and his rescue team while fending off enemy forces and putting out the pipeline fires that resulted from sabotage. Then, the Mora Jamming Station in the Turkish Mountains was hindering commerce in the Black Sea. Antares and the IUPF proceeded to attack the industrial facilities and substations supplying power to the radar jamming dishes before destroying the station and the air-burst artillery cannons.

The Valahia then declared an attack on London, United Kingdom, using the Spiridus. Antares flew across the Adriatic Sea to London, shooting down Valahia aircraft that came his way. It was then that he encountered Sulejmani and his men, now known as the Varcolac Squadron. The traitors engaged Antares and they fended off the renegades. A Valahia submarine then surfaced and attacked Antares with Hi-TASM missiles. Antares evaded the missiles and destroyed the sub. He arrived at London just in time to engage the Spiridus. The Spiridus activated its electrolaser cannons, only for Antares to blow them up. The Spiridus then aimed an AA electrolaser cannon at the PMC. It missed, but killed two other IUPF fighters. Antares stripped the fortress of its guns and destroyed the Balaur's rear heat vent, destroying the fortress, which crashed into the River Thames.

The IUPF formulated an operation to destroy the Valahia and its nuclear missiles. Antares proceeded to the Serbian Mountains to destroy the radar sites, and encountered Varcolac Squadron. They forced the Varcolac to retreat, showing how they had improved. Their next target was the stand-alone Balaur in southern Romania. Despite the defensive positions, radar jamming and incoming fire from the Balaur itself, Antares bypassed the defenses and destroyed the complex.

Afterwards, he was assigned to fly the airliner of IUPF benefactor, Andre Olivieri, through the former location of the Mora Jamming Station. The remnant Valahia forces attacked, and forced Antares to fly into the canyon. Antares managed to fly to the end of the canyon, evading enemy fire, only to encounter more AA guns, and attack helicopters. Despite the odds, he and Olivieri make it to safety.

Next, the IUPF was to intercept a Valahia helicopter/naval transport unit that were transporting nuclear fuel to the Valahia's HQ. Antares stalled the transportation by attacking their escorts to the point that IUPF naval ships were ready to surround the cargo ship and recover the fuel.

Antares finally reached the Valahia's base, an old Soviet missile silo, in Central Asia and the Varcolac Squadron again revealed their presence and engaged Antares. Oruma then revealed that Olivieri had set up both sides for profit, as part of a corporate spy organization called the Golden Axe Plan. Antares eventually shot down Sulejmani, with the rest of Varcolac Squadron following. However, there was little time to stop the launch, so Antares flew into the nuclear missile base to destroy it personally. While they were inside, Dumitrescu confirmed the GAP's existence and announced that the plan was set to commence in America. Antares destroyed the silo's controls, escaping the facility as Dumitrescu was killed in the ensuing explosion. Following the mission, the M42 Squadron and Burford left the IUPF to stop Olivieri's plan.

Golden Axe Plan Crisis[]

As Antares and Canopus reached the Midway Island by their company ship to conduct replenishing and repairing efforts, the Golden Axe Plan Private Army deployed three Orgois and multiple escorts to take out the entire M42 Squadron because they knew the truth about the Golden Axe Plan. Despite those odds, Antares successfully protected Canopus and the M42 Squadron survived the attack.

Antares Squadron, along with Dog Bear, Lazy Bear and Black Bear, attacked the Golden Axe Plan Private Army stationed at the abandoned airport in South Nevada. They destroyed the new Spiridus stationed at Lake Tahoe when the allied ground units launched powerful missiles to disable the electromagnetic radiation system, giving Antares an opportunity to destroy the Hi-TASM launch ports. After that, Antares destroyed all its AA guns, IRCMs, SAMs and AA electrolaser cannons and a large missile fired directly at the Spridius, ultimately destroying its engines and causing the aircraft to crash into the mountains.

Lastly, Antares Squadron headed to San Francisco to stop the remnant forces of the Golden Axe Plan Private Army from attacking the city, defeating Varcolac Squadron during the battle. Dog Bear stormed Olivieri Life Insurance's underground data center, flushing Olivieri out of his headquarters and screamed at the PMC, claiming he would never be stopped, only to be killed by Antares.

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

  • The squadron's namesake is based on Antares, a super giant star located in the constellation Scorpius, which is the scorpion in the squadron's emblem.
  • Antares Squadron is the first to feature multiple player characters flying in the same squadron, dependent upon the number of people playing the game together.
  • Antares Squadron is the first in the 'modern' Ace Combat series wherein all the pilots' information are unknown, though this is due to each of the members of the squadron being player characters.
  • The Antares squadron logo makes an appearance in the briefing mission set before Operation Eternal Liberation in Ace Combat Infinity as one of the squadrons part of Task Force 118, alongside Ridgeback, Bone Arrow, and ironically enough, Varcolac Squadron.
  • The Rafale M flown by an Antares Squadron member seen in the cutscene before Reprisal shares the same color scheme as Marcela Vasquez's Rafale M from Espada Team.
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