Arsenal Bird

"That beast rains missiles. That's some serious shit."

- Clown

The Arsenal Bird is a class of aerial warships that can carry up to 80 MQ-101 UAVs. Two Arsenal Birds were developed by the Osean Federation to defend the International Space Elevator.

Design
The Arsenal Birds are massive, supposedly unmanned aircraft with the capability to carry up to 80 MQ-101s at one time. When these drones are launched, they are dropped from their holds in the aircraft's wings, flipping over and extending their wings to take flight. Arsenal Birds are also equipped with anti-air missile launchers on the dorsal wing surfaces and pulse laser turrets on the ventral wing surfaces. For long range engagements, they can launch a "Helios" missile, which is an airburst type warhead effective against aircraft. Instead of jet engines, Arsenal Birds utilize large contra-rotating electric propellers for thrust, which can provide long endurance.

The Arsenal Birds are equipped with a Microwave Powered Dome that first projects a large halo before generating a force field around them to destroy missiles and other aircraft that are caught in the field. This field is powered by microwave energy from the Lighthouse.

History
The Arsenal Birds were developed sometime in the 2010s by the Osean Army to defend and support the International Space Elevator. Two units were developed, "Liberty" and "Justice", with the former being a prototype and the latter being a production variant. Both Arsenal Birds are resupplied by supply aircraft launched from the Tyler Island Mass Driver.

During the Lighthouse War, following Erusea's capture of the space elevator, the Arsenal Birds fell under their control as well. The Arsenal Bird "Liberty" was first directly deployed in Operation Dual Wielder to against Osean forces over the Chopinburg Rainforest to take down IUN units.

During the Operation Lighthouse Keeper,the Arsenal Bird "Liberty" was deployed in International Space Elevator to force IUN retreat after IUN failed to rescue former Osean President Vincent Harling.

During the Operation Dragon Breath, the Osean's army and OADF LRSSG secretly reactivated the eighth railgun of Stonehenge that was disabled by a Ulysses meteorite impact to use eliminating at least one of the Arsenal Birds, the result was successful. The Arsenal Bird "Liberty" was shot down and crashed in the desert near Stonehenge.

During the Operation Daredevil, the coalition force of Osean and Eursean fighters managed to take down the last Arsenal Bird. The Arsenal Bird "Justice" was shot down and crashed in the sea near International Space Elevator and the shore of Selatapura.

Trivia

 * The Arsenal Birds were referred to as "FAS" in 2015 promotions for Ace Combat 7.
 * Knocker used the nickname "" to refer to an Arsenal Bird in mission 3.
 * The Arsenal Birds resemble the with its flying-wing design and rear-facing contra-rotating propellers.
 * The Arsenal Birds also resemble other fictional aircraft that were based on the YB-35's design, including the airships from 's ' and the Rostock heavy bomber from ' (the latter of which had a prequel game developed in part by Project Aces).