5 - Air Force One

Battlefield: Bad Company Guide

Level 5: Air Force One

This is the shortest level in the game, and while it contains many exploration opportunities, the quickest and easiest way to get through involves using the helicopter as much as possible. The President's gold-plated chopper has taken you towards the border, but you now need to fly through various canyons to reach Russia.

A quick tutorial will get you used to the controls. LT (L1) goes up, LB (L2) goes down, and you just have to balance speed on the left stick with height and direction on the right one. The game prevents you from going too high with warning alarms and threats of enemy interception.

Objective: Land the helicopter

Fly straight ahead and land by the red smoke outside the first house you see. There are no enemies here, so make a perfect landing using LB (L2) to lower the chopper.

Introducing the helicopter

Objective: Repair the helicopter

The helicopter is moderately damaged, but fortunately there is a power tool in the house. Enter through the door then turn left and go into the bathroom. It's just on the floor near the doorway. Move back outside and repair the helicopter in the same way you do any vehicle, just make sure the power tool is making contact with the body of the helicopter.

Objective: Get back to the helicopter

You should be right near the cabin anyway, but just return there and press B (Cirlce) to complete the objective.

Objective: Take off and destroy the trucks

Use LT (L1) to rise up, then move forwards towards the trucks. They are easier to aim at using the mounted gun on the chopper rather than the rockets, but both have advantages. If you get in the middle of the group you can press Y (Triangle) to switch to a gunner seat and spray them all with weaponry as Haggard hovers the helicopter. The trucks are highlighted with red diamonds. It's easier to use the weaponry in the cockpit view, so change it if need be.

It takes some getting used to

This concludes the helicopter tutorial objective-set.


Destroy military infrastructure

Gold (1/5 and 2/5):

1. Land on the left hand side of the dam and enter the large, whte building to find this gold, marked with an equpment spot on the map.
2. In the 'destroy the radio equipment' objective, the gold is in the other room on the same floor as the radio room, by the door.

Objective: Follow the river

You can land anywhere for repairs or exploration if you want to, but the objectives will always stay marked on your radar. Now simply follow the curvatures of the river until you see another two diamonds coming at you along the river. These are boats, so take them out using your preferred weaponry.

You will soon approach a dam with trucks moving along it. Take them out and any enemies that insist on firing on you. We now need to try and disrupt enemy resistance.

Objective: Destroy the fuel silos

Proceed over the dam towards the forested island in the middle of the canyon. One rocket to each of the fuel silo sets will take them out quickly. They are the tall green cylinders amongst the trees, the tallest things on the island (not the trees…). You can land here and explore, picking up equipment and so on, but there are infantry enemies in place to make this difficult.

Flammable stuff

Objective: Destroy the military barracks

You are now introduced to a truly devilish unit. The AA vehicle. These fire merciless barrages at you whenever close, so try to spot them before you get in their range and use long range fire to take them out. This one will be just beyond the first bridge. Follow the road into the centre of the island to the rows of blue portacabins; these are the barracks, so use missiles to take them out. It may take a few rounds of carpeting before the objective is acknowledged as completed.

You really have to pummel those barracks

Objective: Destroy the radio equipment

If you keep following the road west along the island, you'll find another two AA units on the left hand road as it splits. Try to take them out from range, or, if they open fire, keep moving as you fire rockets at them. Pull back if the heat gets too intense. There is another one, completing a trio, following shortly behind them on the road, so don't get complacent! Take it out and proceed. You will probably need to land and repair at this point, though the land is a bit rugged. The top of the hill in the middle of the island sports the best landing spot. Make sure not to clip any trees or get out while parked on a slope as the helicopter will slide away. If destroyed, you're forced to start from the last checkpoint i.e. you'll have to fight those dastardly AA tanks again.

Choose your landing place well

Turn right to move across the high bridge, firing rockets at the AA tank on it to send it falling to its doom through the newly-made holes in the bridge.

This is a harder section as you need to land and disembark the helicopter. However, to make it easier, rather than landing on the helipad, land on top of the objective building. Blow holes in the walls of the upper section to give you a quick route in on foot before landing, then park carefully on the flat roof of the complex. The bottom bunker and roof itself is invincible (see the video below for a full walkthrough of this maneuver).

The improvised helipad on the roof

Get out, repairing the helicopter first if necessary, taking out any enemies you can see from the ceiling that pose an annoyance. Use the fire escape on the north-eastern edge of the roof to climb down and jump through the wall that you should have destroyed earlier. Move deeper inside and you'll see some more steps going into the reinforced basement. There shouldn't be any enemies in the main rooms, so move down, turn right, get your grenade launcher ready, and proceed towards the objective. As you get near, be ready as there are about four soldiers guarding the equipment. Stand by the door to the objective and grenade launcher the contents of the room, killing the guards and destroying the equipment in a few easy shots.

The objective room

Sprint back up the way you came; enemies will be converging on your position. Time is of the essence! Go back up the fire escape, ignoring enemy gun fire as much as possible and launch back into your helicopter. An armoured car will have entered the base, but on the Normal difficulty setting it should not be necessary to take it out. Take off as quickly as possible and get some height and safety fast.

Land at the earliest safe opportunity if you need to repair the chopper or heal yourself after that quick burst.

Be quick about it

Move out

Gold (3/5):

3. On the small island further forward than where the first AA tank is, with a ruined building and a couple of enemies on.

Objective: Follow the river

There is an AA tank on the long, stretched island before the water opens up completely. This may well be before you get a chance to repair, so take it out from range as much as possible. The circular road it ends up on is a decent place to land, and I'd recommend doing so for repairs after you have taken it out as the next section is a little hectic. After this, follow the river until you hit the red triangle floating in midair (this looks like an enemy from distance, but is merely the objective distance marker).


Cut off Serdar's supply lines

Gold (4/5):

4. In the city under construction in the 'destroy the trucks' objective, the gold is in a large white house by the eastern side of the river, marked with an equipment spot low down, near where one of the AA tanks is. Take it out before the last truck so as not to trigger the incoming boats too early (you can still get the gold if not, it's just harder!).

The enemy appears to be moving supplies. Keeping in line with our disruption mandate, we need to destroy more trucks.

Objective: Destroy the trucks

These trucks are heavily protected by AA tanks, so take the first one out through the trees on the island if possible. Follow the road to catch up with the convoy, taking out the trucks on the way. As it opens up onto a construction site, you can use the fuel silos at the high end to take out enemies and trucks alike. Be careful of enemy infantry fire as well the AA tank by the silos themselves. Watching out for cranes and scaffolding, move towards the bridge across the river strait. There is an AA tank up high on a concrete ledge, and the rest of the trucks should all now be in the dock area. Take them out quickly so as not to take too much fire and be aware of another AA tank at the south of the base which you need to pass overhead to continue.

If your helicopter is in relative health (about 20 should do on Normal) continue ahead (south). Otherwise, clear the area and land in the docks, away from the riverfront and repair.

There are a lot of trucks to destroy

Objective: Destroy the incoming boats

Take out the cruisers that are bearing down the channel towards you. If you were repairing you should be out of range of their fire until you get back in. These are relatively easy to destroy as a few well placed rockets will sink them, and they have a large surface area for targeting. Wait here for the objective indicator to come up before moving on as it's easy to cross the red line assuming the next objective will be to follow the river and be on the receiving end of an artillery strike. Once you're across in a helicopter it's nearly impossible to get back and you'll have to restart from the checkpoint.


Reach the refuel base

Gold (5/5):

5. As you go on your way to get the fuel truck, walk straight down the road away from the helipad and the gold is in the large, white building on the corner as the road splits to the left, marked with an equipment spot.

Objective: Follow the river

The fuel warning noise starts and you need to high-tail it to a refueling station. Now the red no-go zone moves back and you can continue to follow the river. Two small boats will come towards you, which in truth pose no real threat and engaging them will only waste your fuel. Take them out if you want and continue up the river.

Objective: Land at the helipad

Fly over the base, destroying silos and any enemies you see en route, but without wasting unnecessary fuel, and land at the helipad marked as an objective at the north-east of the base.

Cruisers can be deadly

Disembark and man one of the mounted guns at the front of the helipad, facing the road ahead. Pick off as many enemies as you can.

Objective: Find a fuel truck and return

The quickest way to do this is to go across country rather than engaging the enemies on the roads. There are three trucks available but only one needs to be retrieved. On Hard, the one at the north-west is your best bet, as you can move up using attritional combat, cover and fire, to make sure all is clear before you get the truck. On Easy or Normal, after taking out the armoured car that moves up to the helipad and the infantry that comes with it using a mounted gun, head towards the southern objective. It may look further than the rest, but the majority of the distance is across the countryside (see the video below for a detailed walkthrough of this segment).

Knife your way through the fencing on the left hand side of the entrance to the base, heading south, and move across the country keeping the pipeline on your right, and hugging the hillside. As the hills smooth out, move left to circle round the objective. Pick off as many enemies as you can from distance, before moving closer in. Head towards the cargo containers by the waterside for good cover near the truck we're aiming for. Without necessarily defeating all the enemies in the area, sprint for the truck and race it out of there, up the ramp and along the road in the direction it's already facing.

Follow the road and keep driving past the armoured car which will come tearing towards you. Turn right at the end by the hangar, and race back towards the helipad. It doesn't matter how damaged the truck is once you get it back, as long as it's not been destroyed! There are of course two more however, should that happen. Drive it back onto the helipad to complete the objective.

A quick route to a fuel truck

Haggard offers to fuel the helicopter, but damages it in the process. Sweetwater now needs to fix and refuel it, so we have to keep it all covered while he works.

Objective: Protect the helicopter

Hightail it to the mounted machine gun or rocket launcher and start to lay into the onslaught of enemies coming up at you. The machine gun is more useful as the majority of enemy units are infantry based, and you can switch between the two fairly quickly as the situation evolves. An armoured car will come down the road, but you should have plenty of time to take it out before it gets too close using the mounted weaponry. Fall back to the helicopter if you get overrun and try and sit it out like that, though this should only be a last resort.

As the objective completes, you'll be rewarded with a hostile armoured convoy converging on your position. Feel free to fire off a few rockets at the lead tank, but otherwise promptly retreat back to the helicopter.

An RPG turret vs. some infantry

Objective: Escape in the helicopter

Get back in the cockpit and move out.

The President reveals he knows the location of the gold, and an agreement needs to be reached for him to give it to us. All is forgotten however as Sweetwater points out that a black helicopter is coming up behind us. While you'd hope a massive helicopter would be spotted earlier, there's no time to react and our bird is shot down as the mission ends.

We're in big trouble now!