XFA-33 Fenrir

The XFA-33 Fenrir (Fenrir in older Ace Combat games) is an original next-generation combat aircraft from the Strangereal universe. It made its first console appearance in Ace Combat Infinity, previously debuting on the handheld Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception and Ace Combat: Joint Assault.

Creation
The Fenrir was developed in Leasath between October and December 2020 during the Aurelian War under the supervision of Diego Navarro. The production of the aircraft began after the destruction of the Gleipnir over Santa Elva at the hands of Aurelian Air Force pilot Gryphus One, which allowed Leasath arms makers to create a new fighter design using combat data obtained from the battle. Archelon Fortress, a stronghold in the Danern Straits, was used as the aircraft's manufacturing plant.

After his escape from Griswall, Navarro began preparations to publicly unveil Fenrir in an event at the Leasath capital of Alendal, planning to demonstrate its capabilities in combat with Aurelia in an attempt to market it to the international aviation industry. In anticipation of the "test", he contacted the elite Alect Squadron and offered them the chance to pilot the aircraft, which they accepted.

Destruction
The destruction of the Fenrir varies between the choices of Gryphus One.

If the Alect Squadron is shot down over the Danern Straits, the High-Powered Microwave from Cobalt Cave will be sent to Archelon Fortress. When the Gryphus and Aquila squadrons arrive to destroy the advanced figther and the fort that houses these jets, one of the Fenrirs fired an HPM shot at Aquila One and the targeted aircraft was destroyed in mid-air due to the ignition of the fuel tanks. The Aurelian radio operator, Eugene "Crux" Solano, advised the Aurelian fighters to increase speed for them to evade the HPM attacks. Gryphus One shot down all of the Fenrirs before eliminating the Shock Cannon that was activated shortly after.

If the HPMs in the cargo ships and its warehouses are destroyed at Cobalt Cave, the Alect Squadron will be stationed at Archelon Fortress, preparing to sortie with the advanced aircraft. A defecting Leasath scientist that was retrieved at Cobalt Cave gave information regarding the aircraft's design. Due to its size, the Optical camouflage is powered from an electrical transmitter at the fortress. The Gryphus and Aquila Squadrons launched the assault on the fortress to eliminate the advanced fighters. A small Aurelian naval fleet was also present to open the transmitter that sends enough power for the Fenrir's optical camouflage. Gryphus One then proceeded to destroy the electrical transmitter and shortly after, he shot down the advanced fighters. When the infiltration team opened the fortress gate, a fifth Fenrir was spotted attempting to escape the area. Gryphus One entered the fortress, shot down the fleeing plane, and narrowly escaped the exploding fortress.

Reproduction
After the war, many of the intact remains were retrieved from the ruins to be inspected by Aurelian engineers. It was then reproduced for research purposes.

General Analysis
Developed as the only mass-production fighter debuting in 2020, the Fenrir is distinguished by its unusually large body. It uses a polyhedral cropped delta configuration with bent wingtips, a V-tail, canards and dual air intakes. The frontal landing gear is housed within the mouth-like pod beneath the cockpit. It uses dual thrust vectoring engines, aided by a smaller power plant between both, which give it V/STOL capabilities.

Following the standard set by aircraft of the era, it uses Connection for Flight Interface hardware for control. The cockpit uses a dashboard with a digital interface that displays vital information of the aircraft, along with a 3D render of the Fenrir that first acted as a compass, but has since been updated to show the position of the aircraft in a virtual space as if the display itself was stationary.

Technology
The Fenrir was primarily designed to operate with the experimental technologies researched in Leasath. The jet can use a downscaled version of the optical camouflage system used by the Gleipnir, as well as an experimental microwave weapon. The stealth system's reduced size requires the jet to work with a ground emitter, yet retains the vulnerability of the Gleipnir to malfunctioning from damage feedback; technological constraints related to it were the reason behind its COFFIN system. The microwave system, on the other hand, works through the intersection of plasma beams generated by a ground station and the Fenrir itself, which generates the creation of ball lightning designed to ignite the fuel tanks of enemy aircraft.

Its main weapons consist of dual machine guns and short-range missiles along with air-to-air and air-to-surface missiles, the initial models were also designed to use a small-scale version of the Shock Wave Ballistic Missile used by the Gleipnir. The Fenrirs obtained by Aurelia from Archelon Fortress's wreckage could not use neither optical camouflage nor microwave, but the lack of the required systems made them lighter, and thus more maneuverable.

Game Analysis
"A large-scale special attacker aircraft developed by a small country in the southern hemisphere. It was originally created as a demonstration aircraft to display the high-level technical capabilities of a military-industrial complex, but the fortress which acted as a base for the aircraft's development and production was destroyed. A certain country discovered the remains of the aircraft and reproduced it for research. Unlike the prototype aircraft, it doesn't come equipped with optical camouflage or VTOL systems, but it's lighter and features improved maneuverability, resulting in an aircraft that is more suitable for real combat."
 * -|Ace Combat Infinity====Ace Combat Infinity===

- Hangar

How to Unlock
 * The Fenrir is available through the Aircraft Tree.

Gallery

Trivia

 * The aircraft is named after a mythical wolf from Norse mythology, and the son of Loki. Odin's son, Víðarr, slays Fenrir in battle. This is referred in the Ace Combat X medal "The Mark of Vioarr", earned by finishing either final mission.
 * The Fenrir bears a resemblance to the Super Sylph B-503 from Sentō Yōsei Yukikaze. This similarity is specially notable in the design of the wings and the mouth-like protrusion beneath the Fenrir's nose.
 * The hologram of the Fenrir in the cockpit always faces north no matter which direction the aircraft faces, suggesting it is meant to act as a compass. However, in Ace Combat: Joint Assault, the hologram no longer rotates. It is unknown if this is a glitch or if it was done on purpose by Project Aces.
 * This was later fixed in Infinity, where the hologram is shown to mimic the plane's movements.
 * In the mission End of Deception II, one of the pilots from the Aquila Squadron said that "Fenrir suddenly stopped in mid air", suggesting it has VTOL capabilities. This was supported because the Fenrir has three engines and when it slows down, the middle engine points its exhaust downward, similar to an AV-8B Harrier II's thrust vectoring nozzles.
 * The description in Infinity confirms this by stating that the XFA-33 "does not come equipped with optical camouflage and VTOL capabilities, unlike the prototype aircraft". It's possible that Aurelia did this to cut down reproduction costs.
 * A franchise made by Namco Bandai, "God Eater", features an organization called "Fenrir", sharing its name with the Ace Combat aircraft. Fittingly enough, the Fenrir has an unlockable God Eater-themed collaboration livery in Joint Assault. As well, a Fenrir emblem was available to all players during a God Eater-themed collaboration event in Infinity.
 * In early concept art, the F-3 Shinden II used a similar wing configuration to the Fenrir.
 * In Ace Combat Zero, one of the allies you fly with is named Fenrir 4 (Heard through mission dialogue)
 * Unlike many other aircraft, the plane was never given an official designation, only being listed with its nickname, "Fenrir". The designation was finally revealed in Infinity, which labelled the aircraft as XFA-33. The description of the aircraft in Infinity states the Aurelia managed to seize the remains of Fenrir and reproduce the latter, giving it the designation of "XFA-33".