Reprisal (21B)

"Antares, this is your final mission."

- Burford

Reprisal is the alternative 21st and the last campaign mission in Ace Combat: Joint Assault. This mission is unlocked by completing cooperative Joint Assault mission 19&20: Wrecking Ball. However, it can be repeated in Free Mission in single-player afterward. The 21A variant is also available during both single-player and multiplayer.

Briefing
Burford: ''This is it. The final battle. Enemy forces are heading into San Francisco from the sea to the west; fighters, bombers, and ships. The Golden Axe Plan is willing to sacrifice the well-being of the city in favor of selfish profits. Our objective is to reach San Francisco and drive the hostile back. Failure is not an option. We're all counting on you, Antares Squadron. Under cover of the battle, ground forces will occupy Olivieri Life's underground data center. The Golden Axe Plan has its hands in not only industrial and military interests, but political as well. Simply stopping them in San Francisco will not be enough. They'll just change their plans. By taking the data center, we can expose the details of their plans to the public. A fitting end. Antares Squadron, launch!''

Initial
Several cruisers, Aegis and B-2s escorted by MiG-29s are heading towards San Francisco, they'll start attacking the city once they reach areas marked with red circles on the map. Take out the nearest cruisers and B-2 as quickly as possible while keep flying low to avoid missiles from the Aegis. Additional cruisers will spawn as enemy cruisers are sunk, and another B-2 with several fighters appears once the B-2s are down.

Unlike the 21A, an enemy tank and SAM will spawn from the Oakland Bay Bridge to the east and Golden Gate Bridge to the north. They will spawn at the waterfront to the southeast as well. The tank groups will keep respawning up to three times as the players destroy them.

The Varcolac Squadron will make appearance as regular enemies as well, but they will retreat after a while and they cannot be shot down.

Mission Update 1
This phase is essentially the same as the 21A counterpart. The final showdown against the Varcolac Squadron. Sulejmani is invincible at this point, moreover his plane is equipped with anti-missile interceptor which will shoot down any incoming missiles (and damaging the player should the player gets too close) so focus on shooting down the other three. Once Oruma, Kiriakov and Gaviria are down, Sulejmani will start circling around the player while lamenting about his past as a child soldier and his desire to defeat Antares One.

His invincibility fades away as soon as the background music is changed, attack him using gun to bypass his missile defense until the AWACS operator states that Sulejmani's missile defense is down. At this point, he will be invincible again until he finished his speech (after "with that money I will be complete!" line and the BGM changes once again) while start dodging missiles using counter-maneuvers so rely on machine gun to finish him off.

Mission Update 2
The last phase is also identical to the 21A counterpart. Ground team led by Dog Bear is requesting aid to clear a path to Olivieri Life Insurance headquarters by destroying its entrance marked with TGT. The HQ is defended by three AH-64s flying above skyscrapers nearby. Destroy the HQ entrance (and optionally, Olivieri himself next to the entrance) and fly through the passage to complete the final mission.

S Rank
The San Francisco must remain completely undamaged, the MPG must be at 100% during the initial phase.

Named Aces

 * Hovercraft Garnet - spawns in the middle of the map near the after all enemy tank groups are destroyed.

Debriefing
Burford: ''We successfully prevented the attack on San Francisco and seized the data center. Analysis of the data thus obtained should allow the entire Golden Axe Plan to be exposed and dismantled. It's not just our country, it's worldwide. And it will take time for peace to be fully restored. I'm proud to have seen you mature through this ordeal. Without you their plan might have succeeded. Thank you, Antares.''