This episode of the Know Your Plane series will cover ADF-01 Falken, one of the most
iconic and oldest original aircraft in the Ace Combat series.
But don’t let the Falken’s old age deceive you because this air dominance fighter from
the 90s has some cutting edge technology: it’s the first plane to feature a full COFFIN system,
meaning the aircraft has no canopy and the pilot sees the outside via cameras
and sensors, while at the same time the plane could be flown by artificial intelligence instead of a pilot.
To make the Falken even more powerful, its armament includes an improved version of the
TLS and the capability of shooting missiles backwards.
Now prior to talking about the Falken’s development history and specifications let’s
briefly cover the Falken's appearances in the context of the Ace Combat series.
The first original fighter aircraft designed by Project Aces debuted in 1997 with the release of Ace Combat 2.
There were two aircraft, the XFA-27 which was playable, and the ADF-01 Falken which
appeared only as bonus final boss - you didn’t really have to fight against it to finish the story mode.
But in Ace Combat 2’s remake: Ace Combat 3D Cross Rumble,
(also known as Assault Horizon Legacy)
the Falken was the final boss aircraft in the last mission of the game therefore
making its appearance canon.
However for the rest of the games where Falken appears: Ace Combat 5, Zero, X, Joint Assault,
Infinity and 7, the Falken only appears as a bonus aircraft and isn’t featured as a main story point.
Now let’s get on with the history of the ADF-01 which can be traced to Belka’s initiative
to produce a new-generation fighter back in 1985.
This was the beginning of the ADF family which stands for Advanced Dominance Fighter.
The company in charge of the project was the South Belka Munitions Factory, a government-owned company.
With the economic difficulties that threatened Belka in the late 1980s and early 1990s the
progress on the project was rather slow due to insufficient funding and only two prototypes
for the next generation fighter were built by the late stages of the Belkan War of 1995.
These prototypes were the ADFX-01 and ADFX-02, both known as Morgan.
I have already made an episode on the Morgan that you can check out right here but what
you need to know is that roughly speaking, the Morgan has similar design compared to
the Falken but it really lacked the technological advancements that made the Falken so distinctive.
In the aftermath of the Belkan War a rebel organization stole one of the Morgans and
used it on their last stand over the Avalon Dam V2 launch facility.
Although the Morgan was flown by a skilled rebel pilot known as Pixy, he was defeated
by the ace pilot of the allied forces after an epic duel which brought the revolt to an end.
Although shot down, the remains of Pixy’s ADFX-02 proved invaluable to the Belka South Munitions Factory
which was now a private company based in North Osea and known simply as Grunder Industries.
Technicians from Grunder Industries were able to find, retrieve and analyze the data from
the downed ADFX-02 and use that data to evaluate and improve the ADF design.
The new design became what we now know as the Falken, but it doesn’t stop there because
after the Belkan War the ADF project was merged with super secret Z.O.E.
(Zone of Endless) project.
You see, after the Belkan War the Belkan Air Force suffered severe casualties and due to
the country’s low population and scarce number of qualified pilots, emphasis was put
on advanced AI becoming more common in fighter jets to eventually replace manned flights,
this is what the Zone of Endless project was trying to accomplish.
The details on the Falken’s development are hard to find but what we do know is that
it progressed rapidly that a flying model was operational by the year of 1998 and here’s
where the story gets interesting.
In that year an armed coup was taking place over the continent of Usea where rebel forces
took control of most of the continent in the early stages.
Taking advantage of the situation, most likely due to the connections a covert pro-Belkan
group known as the Grey Men, Grunder Industries sent some aircraft to take part in the conflict as a secret experiment.
Their goals were to first gather combat data for the Zone of Endless project and to test
the performance and capabilities of the Falken in a real combat, the experiment was so secret
that even the rebel forces didn’t know the Z.O.E. aircraft, painted on a very distinguishable red colour, were on their side.
<< We've got another hostile. >>
<< It's that red fighter again. >>
<< Who's the red avernger? He with the Allied Forces? >>
<< Negative. He has the same identification code as us. >>
<< Sheesh, I don't need any interruptions. >>
The first sorties were with unmanned lower-performance aircraft such as the F-14 or F-18 and they
were purely for the purposes of gathering combat data, if the aircraft got too damaged
they would automatically withdraw from combat.
As more data was gathered and the AI was able to improve itself, more advanced aircraft
such as the YF-23 and the F-15S/MTD were deployed.
From here on Z.O.E. aircraft were programmed to fight until the end.
A mercenary ace known as Phoenix was capable of destroying the Z.O.E. aircraft and changing
the tide of the war in the continent, but his last opponent was waiting for him.
What is believed to be only combat sortie of the ADF-01 Falken took place over
North Point on September 18, 1998.
The Falken controlled by the Zone of Endless AI was tasked with defending Fortress Intolerance
from the allied forces’ attempt to destroy it before ICBMs were launched.
With the vast amount of data that had been captured and analyzed throughout the war and
with limiters turned off, as the craft was unmanned and therefore did not have to concern
itself with stress on the pilot’s body, the Falken faced the leader of the Scarface Squadron, Phoenix.
A ferocious battle followed, however Phoenix emerged victorious and destroyed the Falken
deployed by Grunder Industries.
But this is not where the Falken’s history ends.
12 years later Grunder Industries sold the Falken to the Yuktobanian Union, again likely
due to the influence of the Grey Men, in order to help the Yuktobanian War effort against Osea.
By that time Osea had already invaded Yuktobania and this could be Grunder’s chance of balancing
the war while making some more money out of it.
It’s unknown how many Falken’s were sold to Yuktobania and it appears that they were
still being assembled during the conflict and never saw any operational deployment.
The invading Osean forces were able to find the Falken’s blueprints around Yuktobania
and when stormed Grunder’s Headquarters in Sudentor in the closing stages of the Circum Pacific War.
Osea was then able to complete at least one Falken and became the first air force to operate one.
The Falken flew together with the Morgan and Wyvern in an airshow over November city in
the year of 2011 thus bringing the Falken’s history to an end.
When it comes to performance, the best way to describe the Falken is as an improvement
to the Morgan which was already a very potent aircraft.
At the expense of armour, the improved design made the Falken more agile and stealthier.
Unlike the Morgan which carried missiles externally, the Falken accommodates missiles in internal
weapons bays located on the outer side of each of the engines.
The most notable difference between the two craft is the lack of a canopy as the Falken
was the first aircraft to feature a full Connection For Flight Interface, known simply as the
COFFIN system.
When manned, the pilot is able to see the outside of the craft using the 16 sensors
and cameras located all around the craft’s would-be canopy.
These sensors get everything from infrared to visible light to radio waves which are
displayed in hexagons inside the cockpit thus giving the pilot the ultimate situational
awareness during combat.
However it is important to note, the Falken still had to be controlled with physical or
voice inputs from its pilots because the Electro-Neuron-Synapse-Interface system,
which connects the pilot’s brain to the aircraft, had not been developed yet.
But since all data was digital as it came from sensors, the craft could be flown autonomously
with the Zone of Endless AI from Grunder Industries that is capable of interpreting the data
and learning from each flight.
Another major difference between both aircraft is related to the new Tactical Laser System.
Advances in laser technology allowed for the miniaturization of the laser emitting device
which was now stowed inside the aircraft below what would be the cockpit.
Even though it is smaller, the new TLS is more powerful and has a longer range also
thanks to the improved sensors found in the aircraft.
In order to fire the TLS, the nose of the aircraft opens to create a direct line between
the TLS and the target.
Apart from using the TLS, the regular missiles and the gun, the Falken can also be equipped
with externally-mounted air-to-air missiles or fuel air explosive bombs which defeat the Falken’s stealth.
But when it comes to defence capabilities, that is where the Falken truly shines.
Besides the ability to carry flares to deceive incoming enemy missiles, the Falken is equipped
with potent jamming hardware capable of disrupting enemy missile lock momentarily and also able
to create several ghost targets on the enemy’s HUD.
Should the enemy pursue the Falken from close range, the Falken can shoot missiles backwards
in addition to a rear-firing gun.
And yet, if these countermeasures are not enough the Falken still retains superb maneuverability
and can easily perform post-stall maneuvers to dodge enemy missiles or to obtain an advantageous
position in a dogfight.
The ADF-01 Falken has 24 meters in length, a wingspan of 15.92 metres, a height of 5.64
metres and it weighs 23.3 tons.
It is powered by two Grunder Industries WWX-GD-425 2D thrust vectoring engines that enable it
to reach Mach 2.2 or roughly 2,695 km/h.
Although the Falken’s range and endurance is classified, it can also perform aerial
refueling via the flying boom system for long-range missions.
All in all, the Falken is an extremely advanced fighter in both offensive and defensive capabilities.
It is only disadvantage among the super fighters is its relatively high weight which drags
down its mobility, but the craft is definitely a fierce opponent in the combat area.
This brings me to the end of this episode of Know Your Plane and if you’re interested
in more lore about other aircraft both from Ace Combat and real life you can check this
playlist right here with even more episodes.
And if you want to support the channel there will also be a link to my merch store with
some very cool jet designs.
Anyway, thank you for watching and I will see you in the next episode!