North Osea Gründer Industries

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"North Osea Gründer Industries. Formerly the South Belka Munitions Factory, run by the Belkan government."
― Pops[1]

Gründer Industries, officially North Osea Gründer Industries or North Osea Gründer Industry Group (I.G.) and formerly the South Belka Munitions Factory was a weapons manufacturing firm headquartered in Sudentor, North Osea and one of Strangereal's foremost arms producers.

Gründer was a front for the Grey Men secret society and often did their bidding by manipulating countries into starting wars, either directly or through arms dealing. It was shut down beginning in 2020 after the end of the Lighthouse War.

History

Origins

Aircraft developed by Gründer Industries

Gründer Industries began operations sometime in the 20th century as the South Belka Munitions Factory, Belka's primary weapons supplier and state-owned arms company. During the 1970s, the company participated in "Project Pendragon", which resulted in the creation of the V2 MIRV missile.[2] By the mid-1980s, the company had introduced the ADFX-02 Morgan prototype fighter, which was intended to out-perform all other contemporary aircraft of the day.[3]

In early 1995, at the height of the Belkan War, the Belkan Army's increasing demand for supplies and weapons pressured the company to expand its production efforts. By early June, however, the beleaguered Belkan forces had begun massing at Sudentor. The company readily supplied equipment to these forces prior to the Allied Forces' planned assault on the city.[4] At some point, the only functioning V2 warhead was stolen from the company by the rebel organization A World With No Boundaries.[5]

Transition into Gründer

In the aftermath of the war, the South Belka Munitions Factory—along with Sudentor and the rest of South Belka—was ceded to the Osean Federation.[6] In the years following the company transformed into a multinational corporation: it was renamed "North Osea Gründer Industries" to reflect its new nationality, and the company's Belkan president took an oath of loyalty to the Federation.[7]

Gründer Industries subsequently became a major producer of military technology for the Osean Defense Forces. By the late 1990s, it had begun working on two notable projects: the ADF-01 FALKEN[3] and the Zone of Endless artificial intelligence system.[8] Gründer was also known for its streamlined aircraft designs, which reduced the number of parts and, by extension, manufacturing costs.[1]

When the Federation of Central Usea confiscated and tested Erusea's X-02 Wyverns, international companies took notice,[9][10] including Gründer Industries. The company produced at least one X-02 using their cost-cutting techniques.[1] By April 2010, Gründer Industries had begun developing the X-02's successor, the X-02S Strike Wyvern, alongside the Erusean Air and Space Administration.[11]

Circum-Pacific War

Main article: Circum-Pacific War
The entrance to Gründer Industries' tunnel through the Waldreich Mountains

By the turn of the century, however, Gründer Industries had become involved in the Grey Men's plot to avenge Belka's defeat in 1995. Under its president, Solare Ostberg, who was actually a member of the Grey Men and feigning allegiance to Osea, Gründer began constructing a large tunnel beneath the border between southern Belka and North Osea. The company's goal was to symbolically reunite Belka with its former southern lands,[7] but when the Belkans began efforts to secure and complete the long-abandoned Strategic Orbital Linear Gun (SOLG), Gründer constructed the SOLG's control facilities within the tunnel as well.

Throughout the Circum-Pacific War, Gründer Industries engaged in war profiteering by secretly supplying arms to Osean, Yuktobanian, and Belkan combatants, in an effort to prolong the conflict.[7] One example was sending a Gründer-made X-02 Wyvern to Yuktobania.[1] Sometime in late December, Gründer gained possession of one of the V1 nuclear warheads that had been removed from Mount Schirm earlier in the month.

On December 30, the Grey Men's plot was exposed, leading Osean and Yuktobanian forces to besiege Sudentor. As a last resort, Gründer requested assistance from pro-war forces in both nations, promising to give them the V1 warhead in exchange for their aid. However, both the warmongers and the Belkans were defeated by the Osean-Yuktobanian coalition forces, and the tunnel facility was destroyed by Razgriz Squadron.[12]

Emmeria-Estovakia War

By the 2010s, Gründer Industries began supplying weapons to the Estovakian military.[13] Throughout the Emmeria-Estovakia War, Gründer Industries supplied the Estovakian military during their occupation of Emmerian territory.[14][15] In March 2016, Gründer Industries containers, alongside those from General Resource Limited, were being delivered to the occupying Estovakian forces at Ragno Fortress and Gracemeria.[16][17]

Lighthouse War

Main article: Lighthouse War

At the onset of the Lighthouse War in 2019, Gründer Industries sent their chief researcher, Dr. Schroeder, to work for the Erusean Air and Space Administration in order to gather the flight data of Mihaly A. Shilage and develop an improved artificial intelligence for drones.[18] They supplied several MQ-99s hidden inside shipping containers and trucks to the Erusean Radicals.[19] Gründer Industries manufacturing plants across the Usean continent, including the International Space Elevator's support facility, were also used to create many of the drones used in the war, alongside Gründer Industries' latest fighter aircraft/UCAV, the ADF-11F Raven.[20] Two Ravens, named Hugin and Munin, attempted to use the Space Elevator to transmit Mihaly's flight data to the drone production plants across Usea, but both units were destroyed by an Osean-Erusean coalition before they could do so.[21]

Reorganization

After the Lighthouse War's end, the company underwent reorganization[22] and suffered sanctions from the IUN, resulting in several factories shut down, including Gründer SS (Space and Security) in Selatapura, as well as the headquarters in Sudentor.[23] The company seems to have completely disappeared by the time of the simulated Intercorporate War in 2040.

Trivia

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Cutscene 16, Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War.
  2. ↑ Cutscene 16 - Knight, Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Aces At War: A History, page 057.
  4. ↑ The Stage of Apocalypse, Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War.
  5. ↑ The Valley of Kings, Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War.
  6. ↑ Cutscene 10, Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Briefing, ACES, Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War.
  8. ↑ Aces At War: A History, page 066.
  9. ↑ Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War Perfect Guide, page 229.
  10. ↑ Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception - The Complete Guide, page 208.
  11. ↑ Aces At War: A History 2019, pages 118–119.
  12. ↑ ACES, Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War.
  13. ↑ FRONT LINE: "The Aerial Fleet". It is possible that Gründer Industries (or the South Belka Munitions Factory) has been supplying Estovakia since 1970. The Aerial Fleet states that since 1970, Belka has been Estovakia's largest weapons supplier.
  14. ↑ File:Grunder and General Resource Containers AC6.png
  15. ↑ File:General Resource and Grunder Container Ship at Gracemeria.png
  16. ↑ Ragno Fortress, Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation.
  17. ↑ The Liberation of Gracemeria, Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation.
  18. ↑ Cutscene 04: "Salty Lake", Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown.
  19. ↑ Cutscene 02: "This Means War", Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown.
  20. ↑ Cutscene 14: "The UAV Factory", Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown.
  21. ↑ Mission 20: "Dark Blue", Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown.
  22. ↑ ADFX-01 MORGAN First Prototype excerpts from Scale Aviation. Translation by TaskForce23.
  23. ↑ https://ace7.acecombat.jp/clm/column06.php
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