GAF-1 Varcolac

The GAF-1 Varcolac is an experimental delta wing fighter jet, born as a result of Olivieri Life Insurance's Golden Axe Plan.

The GAF-1 (Golden Axe Fighter version 1) Varcolac is an experimental fighter jet developed as part of the Golden Axe Plan, built solely as a personal fighter aircraft, as its name suggests, for the Varcolac Squadron. Like the Fenrir, it has two self-aiming GAU-22/A cannons that dealt the most damage compared to other aircrafts in Ace Combat X2 Joint Assault, and it is the only aircraft that has different sounding guns in the game. All four GAF-1 models are customized to each pilot's liking-- for example, Milosz Sulejmani's airframe is outfitted with a gatling gun in the rear section to destroy incoming missiles, as well as engage pursuing aircraft, like in a bomber. Sulejmani's aircraft, which is the most modified out of them all, is also designed with speed, mobility, stability and armor in mind, thus making the Varcolac an deadly foe. Sulejmani's plane, when badly damaged, could also execute insane evasive manoeuvers when targeted by a missile, such as the Pugachev's Cobra. But he is not invulnerable to missiles, so if you want him to eat missiles death, launch ripple fired (with a slight delay every shot) XM/XLAA or ODMM. Or just use SASM (if fired correctly will hit no matter what Sulejmani does).

The GAF-1 saw action during the Battle of San Francisco, piloted by the Varcolac Squadron; however, all aircraft were destroyed in combat one by the Antares squadron. One by one, first Gaviria, then Oruma, then Kiriakov were exterminated until only Sulejmani was still alive. During a conversation about his chaotic use, the Antares realised that Sulejmani's Varcolac seemed somehow to destroy missiles before they impacted, and Burford analysed and discovered that Sulejmanis plane was using a gatling gun in the rear to intercept the missiles, so instead Antares used machine guns to damage the Varcolac until the machine gun was disabled, and missiles could hit, but Sulejmani was now insane, and he pulled a lot of unbelievable manoeuvers to dodge, so Antares continued to damage him until his plane blew up, killing him in the explosion. Before he died he screamed that he would use the money to buy back his life. With the Varcolac squadron destroyed, the Antares proceded to destroy the gate of the GA plan's data center, killing Olivieri in the process.

Gameplay
The Varcolac is unlocked for player use by an achieving S-rank on Mission 21A, in ACE difficulty. Three of the four GAF-1 combat programs (excluding Sulejmani's personal program) can also become available by destroying ace aircraft in three of the last four missions, specified below. If you have difficulty beating Sulejmani, use the SU-47 with SASM's to kill him. The Varcolac is very expensive, roughly 1,024,400 credits altogether, making it extremely expensive, probably due to its weaponry, and tunability. The most expensive plane is, however, the FALKEN probably because it can carry 24 TLS charges instead of 14, the plane costs roughly 1,290,000 credits, making it highly unobtainable at first, unless you don't pay any credits for any other aircraft during Campaign.

Note: However, The GAF-1 is not very mobile and/or stable just using the A-A cockpit part. It is recommended to tune it as the description below.

Type Defense/AG Program

 * Used by Daniel Oruma - destroy enemy ace C-17A Globemaster III "Express" on mission 18 ACE Difficulty.
 * Increases Air-to-Ground, Stability, Defense stats.
 * Decreases Mobility, Speed, Air-to-Air stats.
 * Gives a wide range for missile lock-on.

GAF-1 type Speed/Intercept Program

 * Used by Faryd Gaviria - destroy enemy ace F-15 S/MTD "Kelpie" on mission 19 ACE difficulty.
 * Increases Speed, Air-to-Air, Air-to-Ground, Stability stats.
 * Decreases Mobility, Defense stats.
 * Enables an AAM jammer system.

GAF-1 type Mobility/AA program

 * Used by Tolia Kiriakov - destroy enemy ace Su-47 Berkut "Lily" on mission 20 ACE difficulty.
 * Increases AA, greatly increases Mobility stats.
 * Decreases Defense stats.
 * Gives an Auto Gun reticle.

The best parts the Varcolac can be tuned with for the best manueverability are:


 * Engine: Hayabusa Engine.
 * Wing: Extra canard.
 * Armor: Light armor.
 * Avionics: GAF-1 Type AA Program.

NOTE: ranking doesn't matter, you can obtain Kiriakov's program with a C rank.

Unlock Method

 * Finish Mission 21 A/B Reprisal on with an S-Rank on Ace mode in campaign (same as Fenrir)

Ace Pilots/Squadrons

 * Varcolac Squadron (Golden Axe Plan Private Army/Ace Combat X2)

Standard Weapons

 * Gun: 2x GAU/22A 25mm Gatling Cannon (Semi-self aiming)
 * Missile: 2x AIM-9M Sidewinder
 * HACM: 2x AIM-9X Sidewinder
 * HWVM: 2x modified ASRAAM
 * LGWM: 2x Python 4

Special Weapons

 * LSWM: 3 Modified Sea Eagle Missile-with extra hardpoint it can carry 5
 * QAAM: 13 R-73 (AA-11) Archer
 * ODMM: 20 Modified AIM-120C AMRAAM
 * IRCM: 13 Plasma Energy Spheres

NOTE: the IRCM is a defense mechanism that interferes with thermal targeting systems to avoid incoming enemy missiles. When activated, it looks like a HPM plasma energy ball, except that it is more blue than purple, and missiles appear to fly away from it, similar to the ADFX-02 Morgan's ECM system. It also causes slight damage to any plane that flies through it.

NOTE: both the Fenrir's and the Varcolac's LSWM, unfortunately and strangely, upon detonation only destroys anything that is within the inner cloud of bluish-green explosion (which is about as big as an MPBM explosion). The shock-wave has absolutely no effect on anything, even when used on the Spiridus' Fire Control Units (FCU's) it will only destroy one no matter where it impacts. It seems that damage and detonation range is decreased in exchange for ammo capacity, which makes it no more effective than an LAGM, and probably even worse than that.

Trivia

 * The GAF-1 Varcolac is, to date, the fastest aircraft in the Ace Combat series in terms of take off.
 * The Varcolac reuses the cockpit of the CFA-44 Nosferatu.
 * Despite its unusual appearance, the Varcolac is manueverable, making it an good dogfighter.Firefox.jpgsJoint_Assault_XFA-24A_Apalis.jpg
 * The GAF-1 appears to be a hybrid of the mainframes of the XFA-24A Apalis and the MiG-31 Firefox, a highly iconic fictional fighter from the eponymous novel Firefox.
 * The Varcolac is the only superplane in Ace Combat X2 to have different sounding guns.
 * The Varcolac's 6th colour scheme uses the eyes and teeth of a hammerhead shark at the front, to make it look like one.
 * With only Kiriakov's programme to give it manueverability, the Varcolac is extremely unstable, so tune it following the description upside.
 * The Varcolac is capable of very high acceleration when tuned with Rocket Motor MOD (however, decreases mobility). It is capable of picking up 200 mph every second.
 * According to members of the Ace Combat Skies forums, the Varcolac is the ugliest and least popular super plane in the series.
 * The GAF-1 Varcolac is maybe the hardest to unlock super plane in Ace Combat.