Stonehenge (Strangereal)

''"Stonehenge" redirects here. For similar terms, see Stonehenge (disambiguation).''

The Stonehenge Turret Network (or simply Stonehenge) is a railgun network built in the late 20th century on the Usean Continent, and the first of a series of superweapons to protect Earth from the Ulysses 1994XF04 Asteroid.

It is the first superweapon encountered in the PlayStation 2 branch of the Ace Combat series.

Weapon Information

 * Purpose: Planetary Debris Defense and Air Defense


 * Manufacturer(s): Usean Government, ISAF States, Erusea, North Point


 * Height: 120+ Yards (when a Railgun is facing straight up)


 * Width: 4 miles (Total Circumference)


 * Length: Unknown


 * Weight: Unknown


 * Started: Mid-1995


 * Completed: Late 1998


 * Destroyed: April 2nd, 2005


 * Firing Range: 1000+ Miles


 * Energy Source: Electro Magnetic Energy

History
Stonehenge was a superweapon created by many nations on the Usean Continent. In 1994 the International Union of Astronomers (IUA) sights a large asteroid on a collision course with the planet. It was expected to make planet fall sometime in the year 1999. First labeled '1994XFO4', and later renamed 'Ulysses', this asteroid was theoretically large enough to wipe out life on the planet. The FCU government called for the world's nations to meet on the subject. After days of discussion on how to deal with this threat, a decision was finally made. As part of the asteroid defense scheme, many countries on the Usean Continent, including Erusea, North Point, and other nations joined in an effort to build a weapon capable of destroying Ulysses.

It was agreed that conventional nuclear missiles would be unable to stop an asteroid of Ulysses' size, so a new technology was created. The Useans designed a battery of railguns that would use electromagnetic energy to launch payloads, giving them a high enough velocity to engage targets in high planetary orbit and destroy them. These massive cannon are believed to have been designed to fire 280mm Low Yield Nuclear Rounds. Work continued quickly and the project grew. Soon, the rail gun battery, known as 'Stonehenge', was operational.

On July 3rd 1999, five years after it was identified, Ulysses passed the Roche limit and split into more than a thousand pieces, which then plummeted to Earth. The World's nations did not anticipate this, but reacted quickly. Stonehenge engaged the larger fragments of the Ulysses and did its best to protect the planet. Over 500,000 people perished within the first two weeks, and damage was estimated to be the equivalent of 18 months of the total GDP for the entire continent of Usea. Smaller meteorites continued to fall intermittently for several more years. Although the end of civilization as portrayed in science fiction literature did not occur, financial turmoil and the mass flows of refugees caused panic throughout the Usean Continent, which had taken the majority of the impacts.

Stonehenge had performed very well, considering the circumstances, and continued to engage passing Ulysses fragments for a few more years after the incident. However, talks of it being used as a military weapon began to circulate among the creators of Stonehenge. Meetings were called and sanctions forbidding Stonehenge to be used by any country as a super weapon were enacted.

Suddenly, after the Usean Refugee Dispute and other hostilities, Erusean Military personnel embarked on an operation to take over Stonehenge. They succeeded, and Stonehenge fell into Erusean hands. Despite the disposition of the ISAF, Erusea declared Stonehenge theirs. The ISAF decided to destroy Stonehenge rather than let it be used to fuel war; but they failed.

In early 2002, Erusean Military forces crossed their far eastern border and drove across the continent. ISAF Forces were caught off guard and were pushed back quickly. The Eruseans used Stonehenge in major air battles, shooting down large numbers of ISAF aircraft. Combined with the operations of the large and capable Erusean Air Force, this gave Erusea near-total air supremacy over Usea. the ISAF was pushed all the way back to the far eastern coastline of the Usea. Although this region was out of Stonehenge's engagement range, Stonehenge was an instrumental device in the opening days of the war and the years after.

During the ISAF counter-offensive which began in January of 2005, Stonehenge suppressed most ISAF air attacks on the mainland, but was not capable of stopping the advance of ISAF Ground Forces and all ISAF Air Forces. Istas Fortress, the centerpiece of the Erusean South-Eastern Defense Line, known as the "Tango Line", fell and ISAF Forces retook their Headquarters in Los Canas. Once sufficient ISAF Forces were gathered, Stonehenge itself was targeted for a long range airstrike. With the defection of Stonehenge designers and their families to the ISAF, an attack was quickly organized.

After three years of war the ISAF launched another operation against Stonehenge. This was known as "The Stonehenge Offensive", but was officially called "Operation Stone Crusher". During the attack a single ISAF fighter only known as Mobius One managed to destroy every Stonehenge Cannon and effectively disabled the superweapon for good.

Stonehenge was destroyed on April 2nd, 2005 at 1000hrs.

Layout
The Stonehenge complex, depicted above, was built on an isolated plateau in the highlands of central Usea. It was centered around a large circular concrete platform a kilometer or more across. The eight Stonehenge guns were placed at regular intervals around the platform.

In addition to the guns, several control buildings were located outside the central platform. These buildings can be surmised to have served as maintenance and storage facilities for keeping the guns in operation. They may also have served as living space for the staff required to run Stonehenge. The Stonehenge outbuildings were not targeted during the Stonehenge Offensive; it is likely that they were of no strategic value once the guns themselves were destroyed.

During the war, Erusea placed a number of defense units in place to guard the cannon against air assault. The main defense was a large electronic jammer located in the center of the gun platform. The jammer made it impossible for ISAF planes to target the guns or any of the surrounding facilities with guided missiles until it was destroyed during the offensive using unguided weapons. In addition, Erusea placed a number of SAM launchers around the periphery of the complex, and at least one rapid fire AA gun near each of the main Stonehenge cannon.

Capabilities
Stonehenge was designed to be used against asteroids. In order for rounds fired from Stonehenge to reach planetary orbit and be an effective space defense weapon, the rail guns must have been capable of accelerating massive shells to speeds of at least 8 to 10 kilometers per second. The Stonehenge cannon were fully traverse-able. They could fire at near-vertical or near-horizontal angles, and could even rotate to bear inwards, across the Stonehenge complex. Given the sheer size of the guns, this represents a remarkable feat of engineering.

Stonehenge was typically employed by the Eruseans as a long-range AAA weapon, similar in concept to a traditional heavy flak gun. Stonehenge rounds were area effect weapons that approached the target at high altitude, more or less parallel to the ground, and detonated near the target point. The resulting shock wave would destroy any aircraft in the vicinity. Since the Stonehenge rounds produced a spherical blast that could score kills against aircraft at a range of a kilometer or more, it can be speculated that they used a low yield "clean" nuclear warhead or very powerful conventional bomb as a bursting charge.

At long range, rounds from Stonehenge were normally fired in salvos of four. This may be because the guns were being fired at a very low angle. While the guns directly facing a distant target could fire safely, it would be dangerous for the guns on the opposite side of the complex to fire heavy hypersonic projectiles across the complex. In that case, only four to five of the Stonehenge guns would be able to engage the enemy at a time. On the other hand, based on Stonehenge's performance during an ISAF attack against a major solar power plant on the mainland, this would indicate that individual Stonehenge guns could be reloaded in as little as 30 to 40 seconds.

During the ISAF bombing raid, the Stonehenge guns were fired individually and sometimes at very close range; this was largely ineffective against the ISAF attack.

Stonehenge's greatest weakness as a military weapon system was that its shells were completely ineffective against targets less than 2000 feet above sea level. Fighters operating at low altitude could entirely avoid a Stonehenge attack by exploiting this weakness. Perhaps the most likely explanation for this is that the Stonehenge rounds had to be fired so as to graze the atmosphere in order to approach targets from several hundred miles away at a low angle. Hitting ground targets would require the cannons to fire at suborbital velocity, as it was designed to stop distant asteroids, not fighters.

By the time of Operation Stone Crusher, one of the Stonehenge guns had been disabled. The ISAF fighters dispatched to destroy Stonehenge were not assigned this gun as a target, and it was not brought back into action before the end of the war, by which point ISAF had taken control of the site. It is unknown whether this gun (or any of the others) was repaired after the war to resume the asteroid defense role or for other purposes.

Armaments

 * 8 Stonehenge Railgun Cannons


 * 10 Surface-to-Air Missile Launchers


 * 10 Anti-Aircraft Gun Emplacements


 * 1 Airfield with a Air Defense Unit