Chandelier

The Chandelier was a giant railgun created by Estovakia in the Strangereal world.

Creation
Chandelier was created by Estovakia between 1996 and mid-1999 after the Federation of Central Usea's announcement of the impending impact of 1994XF04 Ulysses. Unlike Usea, which had the Stonehenge Turret Network to intercept the asteroid, Anea did not possess any methods of engaging it, leading to continental protests against the FCU in 1998. It was built on Sonne Island in the northern fringes of Estovakia, in the Arctic Ocean, to partly power the weapon using its waters.

Although its construction was not as rapid as Stonehenge's, Estovakia managed to produce a functional and near-complete system by the end of the century. However, it could not be finished before Ulysses struck on July 3, destroying the infrastructure of the country, and was later abandoned. A lone fragment struck the vicinity of the complex, forming the Antenora Crater.

Post-Ulysses
After Ulysses' impact, Chandelier remained deserted for the next sixteen years. In March of 2016, it was revived at the end of the Emmeria-Estovakia War by a team of holdouts led by Commander Gustav Dvornik, who planned to use it against Emmeria after the recapture of Gracemeria. It was fully functional by the time of their arrival, and was rapidly put into operation.

The weapon was first fired the night of March 31, hours after the liberation of the city, as celebrations of the Emmerian Army's victory were held across Gracemeria. Backed by stealth fighters and escorts, several Stauros shells were fired at the Novusmeria district and its surrounding areas, by were intercepted by the Emmerian air force. Shortly after the attack, Strigon Team leader Victor Voychek revealed operational data of the weapon from his briefcase to Melissa Herman and Ludmila Tolstaya, intending to prevent Estovakia from destroying the city.

The source of the Stauros shells was traced back to Chandelier, which was believed to be abandoned, and a strike team led by the Garuda Team flew to Sonne Island on the morning of the next day, and arrived just as the weapon prepared to launch a second attack. Braving their way through heavy ground fire and the survivors of Strigon, Talisman and Marcus Lampert destroyed the railgun's cooling systems, briefly halting it. The underground core of the weapon was soon discovered, and Lampert, still shocked by the death of his family, was shot down after diving inside the Stauros loading tunnel to run reconnaissance on the core, which was destroyed by Talisman.

After the destruction of the tunnel core, the railgun's operators decided to fire a final, charged shot at Gracemeria. Their plan was halted by Talisman after entering the weapon's opened barrel and destroying its main core before emerging from the rear of the weapon. The feedback from the explosion shook the entire facility, leading to the collapse of the barrel and its supporting pillars.

Design
An anti-asteroid railgun, Chandelier was many times larger than one of the 120cm weapons used in the Stonehenge array. The weapon, which resembled a giant rifle, was intentionally built on arctic terrain to exploit the concept of magnetohydrodynamics, using electrical conduction of seawater to generate electricity. It was backed by a series of cooling generators surrounding the facility sealed by protective plates. A small airstrip connected to an internal hangar was built on the front area of the complex.

The weapon fired "Stauros" chutes, special shells loaded with cruise missiles designed to directly impact a target or break in mid-air that were loaded through an internal conveyor belt beneath the railgun into an elevator leading to its chamber. Its barrel was outfitted with a slide mechanism to handle the force of recoil, and could fire a "charged" shot that would cause it to vertically open like a mouth.

Trivia

 * The Chandelier is the largest railgun of the Ace Combat series.
 * It is possible for the player to be killed by the Chandelier when it fires its charged shot at the end of the final mission. This, however, will cause extreme stress to the Xbox 360, often slowing it down to a crawl.
 * The Chandelier's design is reused by the Balaur railgun featured in Ace Combat: Joint Assault.