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Acepedia

"Guess they've come to pick on the dead again."
Larry Foulke

Schwarze Team, officially the 6th Tactical Fighter Squadron of the 13th Night Fighter Air Division, was a black-operations squadron of the Belkan Air Force during the Belkan War. It was led by the former Yuktobanian Air Force pilot Dominic Zubov and crewed by mercenaries.[1] It operated eight MiG-31 Foxhounds bearing distinctive black and red paint schemes. They were a command group, assigned to shoot down Belkan Air Force pilots who abandoned their posts or attempted to flee.

Schwarze commonly used long-range missiles to attack from outside their victim's visual range. When the squadron engaged, it typically split into two units consisting of four aircraft each. One of the unit would then engage first, while the second unit engaged later. The second unit's opening volleys usually consisted of long-range missile fire to catch their victim off guard.

History[]

"This is the worst kind of support we could hope for."
Belkan Air Force pilot[2]

Schwarze officially first saw combat during the Belkan War in 1995. During the war, the entire squadron gained a reputation of fear among both the military of Belka and the Allied Forces. They were hated by their own allies, who often resented having to receive support from them.

The squadron was commonly tasked with intercepting Belkan aircraft attempting to defect or leave the battlefield for whatever reason.[2] In addition, the squadron performed other unknown tasks as well.[3] Like all units of the 13th Night Fighter, Schwarze was never officially tried by Belka for their actions, since they had completely unrestricted orders to engage both enemy and allied forces at will.

On May 28, Schwarze was dispatched to assassinate Belkan ace Wolfgang Buchner, better known as "Huckebein the Raven." Buchner had been ordered to drop a nuclear weapon on a Belkan city, but disobeyed and attempted to flee.[4]

Schwarze Team pursued the deserting ace into the infamous Airspace B7R, where the Allied Forces' Operation Battle-Axe was then underway. Schwarze lost track of Buchner in the furball, however, and instead engaged the Allied mercenary Galm Team. The entire squadron was shot down in the resulting engagement.[2]

With the end of the Belkan War, all members fled the country, changed their identities or seemed to disappear. In 2005, Brett Thompson interviewed Zubov in Oured, Osea where he was suspected to be part of a smuggling ring.[5]

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

  • "Schwarze" means "black" in German.
  • While the English localization of Ace Combat Zero refers to Schwarze as a "command group," the term does not have the same meaning in English as it does in Japanese. In Japanese, a command group (督戦隊 Toku sentai) is roughly equivalent to the English term barrier troops, and refers to a military unit that is meant to monitor their allies from the rear and attack them if they intend to retreat or surrender without orders.

References[]

  1. ACE COMBAT ZERO -> World News -> World News 18 -> Page 01.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Mission 10M: "Mayhem" (Mercenary), Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War.
  3. Assault Records #072: Sepp Bonhof, Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War.
  4. Scene 20: "Ancient Walls #1", Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War.
  5. Scene 07M: "The Bringer of Death / 1", Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War.

https://youtu.be/VfHVUKwuAFI

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