Ace Combat: Joint Assault

Joint Assault features more than 40 licensed aircraft types,[1] plus fictional aircraft from previous installments in the series, particularly Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception. Propeller planes are also available for the first time in the series, with players being able to unlock the F6F-5 Hellcat and the A6M Zero. Frequent use of each aircraft allows the player to unlock more weapons, tune-up parts, paint schemes, and new emblems. The game's official superfighter is the GAF-1 Varcolac.

Players assume the role of a pilot freshly hired by a private military company called Martinez Security. The unnamed pilot is assigned to Antares Squadron under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Frederick Burford. Another squadron within the company, Rigel, has Milosz Sulejmani, Daniel Oruma, Faryd Gaviria, and Tolya Kiriakov. The game's antagonists are Romanian Colonel Nicolae Dumitrescu and international insurance businessman Andre Olivieri.

The game is set sometime after the global financial crisis. Off Midway Island, the player begins his first day on the job flying with Martinez Security in an exercise involving the US 7th Fleet and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force. After a successful practice run, several unidentified bandits suddenly appear from the east and head due west. Burford breaks the news that the bandits, identified as the terrorist group "Valahia", are attacking Tokyo and the 7th Fleet is seeking Martinez Security's help. The defense of Tokyo is a success, with the destruction of the Valahia's Orgoi flying fortress and heavy damage being dealt to a larger airborne fortress called the Spiridus. Antares Squadron also helps the SDF fend off Valahia attacks at the Boso Peninsula and over the Izu Islands. In the midst of the action, the Rigel Squadron defects to the Valahia and leave Tokyo upon considering a lucrative offer by Valahia leader Colonel Nicolae Dumitrescu.

Embarrassed by the defection, Martinez Security joins the International Union Peacekeeping Force (IUPF) in stopping all Valahia activity around the world, starting with operations in the Middle East and the Balkans. During missions over Croatia and Serbia, the player fends off an attack from Rigel Squadron, now calling themselves the Varcolac Squadron. The crackdown is given an added boost when the IUPF destroys the Spiridus over London. Dimitrescu later announces that the Valahia have captured several former Soviet ballistic missile silos in Central Asia. As the IUPF prepares to attack the silos, the player is ordered to pilot Andre Olivieri's personal Boeing 747-200B over Valahia-controlled territory.

As Antares Squadron destroys the silos and eliminates the Valahia threat, the player discovers that Olivieri used his insurance earnings to finance the Valahia and the IUPF's operations, preparing for an operation named Golden Axe, scheduled to take place over San Francisco. It is revealed that the attacks themselves are part of a plan for Olivieri to establish a monopoly over the global insurance market. He also orders the Valahia eliminated because they went rogue on him with plans to establish a new nation. Antares Squadron, which reorganizes at Midway after the silo attack, is also attacked by the Golden Axe forces in an attempt to prevent them from stopping the operation.

In a final series of missions over Nevada and the Bay Area, Antares engages the rest of the Golden Axe forces and the Varcolac Squadron. After eliminating the Varcolac team, the player is sent to destroy Olivieri's underground data center at his company's headquarters in downtown San Francisco. The data center is destroyed, and Olivieri is killed in the blast, ending any further schemes of the Golden Axe Plan to foment more conflict.

In the aftermath of the Battle of San Francisco, Olivieri's plans are exposed to the public, and the Antares Squadron continues to defend the skies.