After years of internal political unrest, which started around 1988 with the Belkan federal law review, Belka allowed its eastern territories to secede. This however, did not remedy the vast economic crisis that had befallen the country. Osea, seeing a chance to make profit, assisted the eastern provinces in declaring independence and setting up Osean-friendly governments; one of which was the Republic of Ustio. An extreme right-wing political group finally comes to power on the 12th of December 1991. Shortly thereafter, vast natural resources were discovered in the B7R region, and Belka invaded outwards on the 25th of March, 1995 recapturing lost territories in a blitzkrieg. These actions prompted both Osea and Yuktobania to combine forces and launch a counter-offensive against Belka

Cipher (callsign "Galm One"; real name unknown) is the player character of the game and the flight lead of the 66th Air Force Unit. His real identity and name are never revealed, but he eventually distinguishes himself as "The Demon Lord of the Round Table" by defeating a large number of Belkan aces over the Airspace B7R. Although the player is free to choose any plane for Cipher, he canonically flies an F-15C Eagle.