Welcome to the “Know Your Plane Series”, a collection of videos about military aviation
that focuses on providing you with key information, specifications, history and lore about a variety
of aircraft, both real and fictional.
And to start off this series in our very first episode we feature an iconic aircraft from
the Ace Combat series: the X-02 Wyvern.
The X-02 Wyvern was designed by Isshin Yabuki, member of Project Aces, and the aircraft made
its first appearance in the game Ace Combat 04 for the PlayStation 2 in the year of 2001.
Although the aircraft doesn’t appear in the story mode of the game, it can be unlocked
as a bonus aircraft that packs some serious firepower and it’s extremely fast and agile,
making it by far the best aircraft in the game.
The second appearance of the Wyvern was on the next Ace Combat game -
Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War.
This time the X-02 Wyvern appeared as an enemy UAV in the arcade mode of the game which is
known as Operation Katina.
Apart from these two games this fighter jet has also made a non-canon appearance on Ace
Combat Zero, Ace Combat X, Ace Combat Joint Assault and Ace Combat Infinity, making it
one of the most popular original aircraft in the Ace Combat series.
In the Strangereal universe the X-02 was created by the country of Erusea, being developed
by the Erusian Air and Space Administration, to enter service for both the country’s
air force and navy.
However in addition to Erusea, who created the aircraft, the X-02 had two secondary operators:
the Union of the Yuktobanian Republics and the military coalition: ISAF.
When designing the aircraft Isshin Yabuki brought elements from the American YF-23 Black
Widow II, the Russian Sukhoi 37 and from the FFR-41 Mave from the Japanese novel
“Sentou Yousei Yukikaze”.
As a result we’ve got an aircraft that features forward-swept wings of variable geometry,
wings which are adjusted according to the aircraft’s speed.
The X-02 features two very distinguishable modes, the stealthy and high-speed folded
wings mode and the low speed but highly mobile mode where its wings are extended.
As a result the X-02 is well suited for both high speed interception and dogfighting.
In addition to the variable geometry wings, the X-02 can fold its tails depending on the
flight characteristics in order to reduce drag or provide additional maneuverability.
A further advantage of the X-02’s variable geometry is that it also saves deck space
since the aircraft was designed to be operated from aircraft carriers.
However despite its superior maneuverability, the X-02 has two major disadvantages: its
armor is very light and the aircraft has a limited fuel capacity - although it is able
to perform in-flight refueling.
Regarding its weapon systems, the X-02 can carry all of its ordinance internally in three
separate locations.
The first and largest one is the weapons bay located just under the fuselage and is meant
to accommodate the special weapons.
The two other locations, who are responsible for releasing the standard missiles, are compartments
located just under the engines.
When an enemy is within range the missile-holders slide down so that the missiles can be fired
and after the missiles are launched the holders are retracted back up.
Now that we've talked about the general design of the aircraft let's see some of its specifications,
according to official sources, and let's also make size comparison with an F-35C.
The X-02 has length of 21.84 meters, has a width of 18.30 meters when its wings are extended
or 11.54 when they are folded and has a height of 4.36 or 3.42 meters, which of course depends
if the tails are folded or not.
As for its weight, the X-02 is said to weight 16.8 tons, which I assume is its empty weight,
and the aircraft is powered by two tri-dimensional ERG-1000 engines which gives the X-02 a top
speed of Mach 2.5, around 3,060 km/h, and a combat radius of 1,050 kilometers.
As for its ordinance, the X-02 is capable of carrying air-to-air missiles, air-to-ground
missiles and bomblet dispensers, and of course don’t forget about the canon that is mounted
on the left side of the fuselage.
In the Ace Combat games that X-02 carries from 82 to 84 standard missiles, 14 Advanced
Long-Range Air-to-Air Missile, 16 Advanced Air-to-Ground Missile, 24 Bomblet Dispensers,
14 Quick Maneuver Air-to-Air Missile and in Ace Combat 04 the X-02 is the aircraft that
can carry the largest amount of bullets - a total of 950 of them.
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In the 1980s the Erusian navy was seeking a next generation fighter jet to operate from
its aircraft carriers and as a result the X-02 project was born.
Subsequently the Erusian Air Force also made a request to upgrade its fighter aircraft
and from there the Erusian ministry of defence decided to modify the navy’s aircraft so
that it could also perform the duties required by the Erusian Air Force.
On January 22, 1987, the Erusian Air and Space Administration, who was in charge of the X-02
program, finished the preliminary blueprints that would give the shape to the Wyvern, however
due to the complexity of the X-02’s design and because of external factors including
the discovery of the Ulysses 1994XF04 asteroid and the rushed development of Stonehenge,
work on the X-02 continued but progress was slow because the X-02 program was target of
several opposition groups who questioned the high cost of the program and insisted that
the air force kept on using combat proven aircraft.
Because of the post-Ulysses reconstruction effort and the controversy around the project,
development of the X-02 once more came to a halt.
In 2003, when Erusea declared war and took over Stonehenge, the asteroid intercepting
railgun, its military advance was so successful thanks to Stonehenge’s deployment as an
anti-aircraft gun that the Erusian military disregarded the need of the X-02 during the
majority of the war.
But on April 2, 2005, after the destruction of Stonehenge the tide of the war had turned
in favour of the ISAF and because of that the X-02 program was restarted.
From April to September of 2005, development of the X-02 had taken top priority and despite
lack of resources due to Erusea’s worsening position as the war progressed, the X-02 was
set to enter full production on the month of September, however by that time ISAF had
managed to capture Erusea’s capital of Farbanti and the war came to an end.
Despite losing the war, Erusea did not stop the development of the X-02 and later even
managed to create some unmanned variants of the aircraft.
These unmanned versions were stolen by the Free Erusea movement in the year of 2006 and
were deployed into combat against ISAF forces during Operation Katina.
When the Free Erusea movement was defeated the ISAF managed to get its hands on some
additional X-02 units that were located at White Valley’s arms factory, which used
to be Free Erusia’s headquarters.
One notable mention about the X-02 Wyvern is that it was also later exported to Yuktobania
via North Osea’s Grunder Industries which submitted the aircraft to its cost-cutting techniques.
It is unknown how many units were exported but one of them was shot down and recovered
by the Osean military during the Circum-Pacific War in 2010.
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The name Wyvern refers to a creature that is very similar to a dragon, the main difference
being that the Wyvern only has two legs instead of four.
The Wyvern is somewhat famous in heraldry, the study and design of armorial bearings
or armory, and served as the symbol of the medieval kingdom of Wessex.
Apart from old references, the name Wyvern or its symbol can still be found in recent
history, the United States Air Force 51st Operations Support Squadron based on Osan
Air Force base in Korea features a Wyvern on their patch and their motto is “Breathin’ Fire.”
And if you want to go a bit back in the past there is a British car manufactured from 1948
to 1957 called the Vauxhall Wyvern, and of course I could not forget about another British
creation: the Westland Wyvern, a piston aircraft that was capable of operating on aircraft
carriers, just like the Ace Combat Wyvern, that was manufactured from 1946 to 1956 and
was operated by the Royal Navy.
Lastly, there was an X-02 Wyvern model kit that was sold in Japan in the early 2000s
after the release of Ace Combat 04.
I believe the kit was sold by Hasegawa, who still makes Ace Combat kits even nowadays,
but the X-02 kit isn’t available anymore and is a rare model kit.
So this was the our very first episode on the legendary Erusian X-02 Wyvern, a classic
aircraft that had its debut in Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies but appears several other
times in the Ace Combat series.
Before terminating our video don’t forget to check the Know Your Plane series’ playlist
for more episodes like this and of course like, share, subscribe and let me know which
aircraft you want to see featured next video!
This was Ace Combat Fan and I see you guys next time!