Airborne

"Uh, sir. No they're not, sir. We just blew up that fucking ultimate weapon of theirs! P.S., invasion cancelled, sir"

- Haggard

"Not here, they're coming in through Alaska."

- Braidwood

Airborne is the final single player level of Battlefield: Bad Company 2. It involves the storming of the AN-225 containing a scalar weapon, and then jumping out of the plane once the scalar weapon is destroyed and killing Kirilenko.

Walkthrough
The level starts with the squad near the back of the AN-225 where they stowed away. Sarge orders Marlowe to storm a guard that is in front of them, knife him, and then take his weapon. Just as Preston is about to reach the guard, another guard pops out and alerts the first just before Marlowe stabs him. The other guard throws down his weapon since its out of ammo and he starts charging at Preston with his knife while Preston reloads. Marlowe shoots the guard and the squad proceeds to look for ammo.

Once they find ammo in a nearby crate at the back, the squad clears out two rooms filled with weapons, ammunition, vehicles and more guards. Once clearing the second room, the squad reaches the compound containing the scalar weapon, only to find that it is sealed off.

Since they don't think that they can breach through the barricade to get to the scalar weapon without destroying the plane, they decide to head up to the cockpit to try to gain control of the plane and to find Kirilenko. Marlowe and the squad clear out the passenger area of the plane after Haggard says he is sick of being quiet - tossing Marlowe a USAS-12 - and they reach the cockpit after clearing out the top level of the plane, only to find that it is on autopilot and that there is no sign of Kirilenko.

Kirilenko then sends them a message through one of the monitors in the cockpit thanking them for the compound containg the scalar weapon. Redford then asks Haggard if it is possible to blow up the glass barricade into the compound. Upon agreeing to try, they head back to the barricade where Kirilenko tells them that they are too late. Sarge says "I don't think so." and orders Haggard to plant C4 charges on the barricade.

The glass barricade is blown through and Marlowe shoots the scalar weapon with an MP-443 Grach, limiting the size of the explosion, but tearing off the front of the plane, sending it down. As Sarge and Haggard jump out with parachutes, Marlowe asks where Kirilenko is, as his body is nowhere to be found. Just as Sweetwater is about to hand a parachute to Preston, Kirilenko rushes Sweetwater and pushes him out of the plane trying to get the parachute.

Realizing that he has no other choice, Marlowe jumps out of the plane with only his sidearm. In mid air, Marlowe shoots Kirilenko and Sweetwater hands him his parachute. All four of their chutes deploy and they reach the ground. Upon landing they find that they are in Texas.

While pondering what they will do next, General Braidwood's convoy pulls up and he personally thanks them for destroying the plane and Aurora, but regrets to tell them that they must get in his Humvee because the Russians are invading. Haggard gruffly responds, "Uh, sir. No they're not, sir. We just blew up that fucking ultimate weapon of theirs! P.S., invasion cancelled, sir!" Braidwood then replys, "Not here, they're coming in through Alaska." The camera then zooms out and ominously shows the advancing Russian army as they push out from Alaska, across Canada, and across the northern US Border.

Tips

 * After you breach the first compartment, take an MG3 and swap it for one of the AKS-74Us in the vehicle bay. Then, when you are told to blow up the scalar weapon, you can swap the pistol for the MG and take out the Scalar weapon faster.
 * Manage your firing of the USAS-12. Running out of ammo in a close combat situation is very dangerous.
 * The MG3 is a good one-magazine alternative to the AKS-74U, as the heavy 7.62mm cartridges can tear the aircraft seats to shreds, leaving the enemy (and you) without cover.
 * Check your corners carefully, as enemies may be hiding there.

Trivia

 * It is impossible to knife the charging guard at the beginning of the level.
 * This is a considerably shorter mission than the others in the game.
 * After killing the first group of guards, there is what is thought to be an Easter Egg, featuring a poster on a wall advertising kiwi. The poster states "Just eat it!", which may be a reference to the spoof song "Eat It" by Weird Al Yankovich.
 * It is odd that Kirilenko was not killed by the destruction of the Scalar Weapon as he was in the chamber when it went off. This could be explained if there was another way out of the chamber that was not known by the squad, and he went around to try and kill them or escape the plane.
 * If you look to the left of the scalar weapon, you see Kirilenko in an armored control suit.
 * When you are on the starting load screen, one of the tips will say "No smoking on the plane".