Ace Combat: Gryphon Assault

Meanwhile, on the beach

Applebloom stared at the beach ahead with determination as her tank was being transported to the beach via an ERN LCAC.  Lyra had already prepared to load the main gun with a APFSDS round.  “Git ready!” Applebloom ordered as the hovercraft sped up onto the beach and slowed down next to an Arcadian LCAC that had just deployed the M1A3 Abrams tank that it was carrying.  Roseluck placed her hooves on the controls as the ramp opened up.

“PUNCH IT!” Applebloom ordered.  Roseluck began to accelerate the tank towards the rest of their platoon which was already engaging enemy vehicles on the inner edge of the beach.  “Gunner, target, tank, eleven o'clock, load up sabot!” Applebloom called out as she spotted an enemy T-90 coming out from behind a nearby rock formation.  “Identified!” Twist called out as she spotted the tank in her targeting sights.  “Sabot up!” Lyra called out as she shut the breech of the gun.  “FIRE!” Applebloom ordered.  “On the way!” Twist shouted as she pressed the trigger.

The tank jolted as the 120mm smoothbore main gun fired.  The depleted uranium projectile punched through the T-90's armor, igniting once inside and hitting the ammunition, causing the tank to explode.  “Alright, that's a kill!” Applebloom shouted when she saw the enemy tank blow up.  Another Leopard II pulled up alongside them as their platoon set up a fighting position at the edge of the beach, the other two tanks of the platoon lining up on the other side of Applebloom's tank.

Applebloom spotted some enemy infantry coming out of a nearby sandbag bunker, some wielding RPG-7s.  She quickly began mowing them down with the Ma Deuce mounted in front of her on top of the turret.  “GIT SOME, FEATHERBRAINS!” Applebloom shouted as she took out most of the enemy infantry.  Two Arcadian UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters flew overhead, their door-mounted M134 Miniguns blazing away at enemy soldiers as they made their way to an LZ further inland.

After five minutes, and several enemy vehicles destroyed, several large explosions rang out in front of the allied lines, destroying several enemy positions in the process.  Applebloom looked up and saw a pair of Arcadian Marine Force F-35Bs flying overhead, having just bombed the enemy positions with Mk-83 1,000lb bombs.

“YEAH!” Applebloom shouted as the allied jets passed overhead.  Her platoon then began to advance, finally getting off the beach and into the grasslands further inland.  In the distance, Applebloom could see an enemy position being bombarded by gunfire from the ERNS Luna.  She could also see several enemy bunkers being blasted by the ERNS Celestia’s 16-inch guns.

Meanwhile, 100 feet above the carnage

Scootaloo skillfully piloted her Apache around the battlefield, carefully dodging enemy anti-aircraft gunfire while looking for targets.  “Contact, tank one o'clock!” Bon-Bon called out as she spotted an enemy T-80 tank.  “Got it, switching to Hellfires!” Scootaloo replied as she brought the attack helicopter to a hover behind the remains of a blasted bunker.  Bon-Bon acquired the enemy tank and locked on, prompting Scootaloo to fire the missile.

She watched in satisfaction as the missile dove down on the enemy tank, which then disappeared in a fireball.  “Good kill!” Bon-Bon called out as she confirmed the kill.  She then spotted a group of enemy soldiers that were about to flank a group of Arcadian Army troops.  “Enemy infantry spotted, switching guns!” Bon-Bon called out as she armed the M230.  “Roger, going in hot!  Guns! Guns! Guns!” Scootaloo replied as she positioned the Apache to engage the enemy troops.  RATATATATATATATAT! A short burst of several rounds fired from the M230 and struck the enemy troops with grim results.

“Whoa, they're toast!” Bon-Bon said as she watched the carnage.  “Delta Two-Zero, this is Bravo-Six, thanks for the save!” PFC Ramirez said as he saw the enemy troops get gunned down.  “No problem, we've always got your backs!” Scootaloo replied proudly.  “RPG, LOOK OUT!” Bon-Bon shouted as she spotted an enemy RPG being fired at them!  “Whoa, HANG ON!” Scootaloo shouted as she strafed to the right, barely avoiding the incoming rocket.  A member of Ramirez's squad then took out the threat with his M110 SASS.

“Whew, that was close!” Bon-Bon exclaimed.  “Yeah, but not close enough!” Scootaloo replied proudly.  She then spotted a ZSU-23 anti-aircraft gun mount and had Bon-Bon target it for a Hellfire missile shot.

Suddenly, the Apache shuddered as a burst of enemy gunfire hit the aircraft, causing Scootaloo to cringe.  “We're hit!” she exclaimed as she looked around.  She then spotted an enemy BTR-80 at their 3 o'clock shooting at her helicopter with its 14.5mm machine gun.  “Oh, no you don't!” she exclaimed as she rotated the helicopter to face the BTR while moving back away from it to get it out of the minimum range of her Hellfires and out of range of the ZSU-23.  Once Bon-Bon got her a lock, she fired a single missile, which reduced the BTR to a ball of flame.  Several seconds later, she did the same with the ZSU-23.

Five minutes later...

Robert's flight was just seconds from carrying out an airstrike on a line of bunkers that separated the AEJSF forces from their key objective in this area: the local field HQ.  He watched as a wave of BGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missiles streaked in and struck a group of ammo dumps and barracks, resulting in large explosions.  Robert lined up and moved his thumb onto the weapon release button on the stick.  “Just a bit more...and...goodbye!” he muttered as he released the bomb.  “One away!” he called out as he began circling around his target.  Angelo bombed the bunker to the immediate left of the one that Robert targeted while Vidal and Megan hit the ones to his right.  All of the targeted bunkers disappeared in balls of flame.

“We have good hits!” Robert called out.  “Shadow Flight, this is War Horse, thanks fer takin' out those bunkers, we're advancin' now!” Applebloom called out as her unit began advancing.  I know that voice, that's Applejack's younger sister, Applebloom! Robert thought as he passed over the Equestrian tanks and rolled the aircraft in greeting.  “Shadow Flight, this is Stardust, we have a new contact, single group, bearing zero-nine-one, thirty miles, angels four.  Super Flanker, hostile, you're cleared to engage!” came the call from the AAF E-3D Sentry AWACS that was overseeing the aerial action.

“Roger, Shadow Flight engaging bandits!” Robert replied as he and his fellow pilots switched to their air-to-air weapons.  Seconds later, the F-18s picked up the Su-35s on their APG-79 AESA radars.  “OK, everyone pick a bandit and lock him up!” Robert ordered.  Each pilot locked up a different enemy fighter and locked on.  “OK, I've got good tone, and...fox three, fox three!” Robert called out as he fired his AMRAAM.  The others followed suit, and the flight of bandits was destroyed seconds later.  “Shadow Flight, Stardust, we're picking up a large force of enemy fighters and attack aircraft arriving from the east.” Stardust warned.

“How many are we dealing with?” Robert asked.  “It looks like, oh, boy, looks like at least forty aircraft, Frogfoots, Fulcrums and Havoc gunships!” Stardust warned.  “Shadow Flight, this is Warwolf, we're inbound to help deal with the bandits.” Colonel William Bishop, an AAF F-22 Raptor pilot said as his flight moved in to engage.  “We're relaying their position to Sweeper Flight, they'll take it from there.” Bishop added.  “Roger, thanks.” Robert said as his flight moved on.

Meanwhile, just off the coast at 10,000 feet...

Sweeper Flight, a pair of B-1R Lancer missile carriers, was standing by to receive targeting information on the large group of bandits via data link from Warwolf Flight.  After a minute, the data was received and relayed to the fire control system.  Seconds later, all of each Lancer's 20 AMRAAMs fired, each headed towards a different bandit in the group.  All 12 Mi-28 Havoc gunships, all 20 Su-25 Frogfoot attack planes, and 4 of 8 MiG-29S Fulcrums were destroyed by the massive wave of missiles.  “Sweeper Flight, Stardust, we've confirmed the kills, wow, nice shooting!” Stardust said.

Robert gave an astonished whistle after witnessing the might of the B-1R versus a large group of enemy aircraft.  “Warwolf One, fox three!” William called out as he fired an AMRAAM from his F-22's internal bay.  The other Raptors in his flight followed suit and the remaining MiGs were destroyed, without even having spotted the stealthy F-22s.  “Nice!” Robert said as he and his flight headed out to look for more action.