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

Larry "Pixy" Foulke (callsign "Galm Two"; also known as "Solo Wing") is the player's original wingman, introduced in the first mission. His nickname "Solo Wing" refers to an incident before the events of the game when he lost the right wing of his Eagle in combat, but still managed to land it safely. To commemorate this event, Pixy sports a unique paint scheme with his right wing painted bright red. This story may have been based on an real life training incident with an Israeli F-15D Eagle in 1983. Pixy goes missing in action in mission 12 but returns in the final one. Before his disappearance, he pilots an F-15C Eagle like Cipher