Airborne

Airborne is the 13th and final single player level of Battlefield: Bad Company 2. It involves the storming of the An-225 containing the Scalar Weapon, jumping out of the plane once the Scalar Weapon is destroyed, and killing Kirilenko.

Synopsis
The level starts with the squad near the back of the An-225 where they stowed away. Redford 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 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 Preston shoots the scalar weapon with an MP-443 Grach, limiting the size of the explosion, but tearing off the front of the plane and 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 the Scalar Weapon, but regrets to tell them that they must follow him in his HMMWV 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 replies, "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, occupy Canada, and cross the northern US Border, rapidly claiming many northern states.

Tips

 * After the player breaches the first compartment, they should take an MG3 and swap it for one of the AKS-74Us in the vehicle bay. Then, when they are told to blow up the Scalar Weapon, they can swap the pistol for the MG and take out the Scalar Weapon faster.
 * Players should manage their 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 the player) without cover.
 * The player should check corners carefully, as enemies may be hiding there.

Trivia

 * The road sign on the ground after Bravo-Two is down says 1942 which is a clear reference to Battlefield 1942
 * It is possible to knife the charging guard at the beginning of the level if you sprint.
 * 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 song "Eat It" by Weird Al Yankovic.
 * 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 the player looks to the left of the scalar weapon, you will see Kirilenko in an armored control suit.
 * When the player is on the mission's load screen, one of the tips will say "No smoking on the plane".
 * Haggard assumes the plane to be an An-225 Mriya while it is actually an An-124 Ruslan. The An-225 has six engines while the An-124 in the game only has four. Though Haggard is still correct about Mriya meaning Dream along with a few other facts about the An-225.
 * When the player finds ammo, the rest of the squad does not take any ammo but still doesn't run out, despite saying they were low on ammo. Instead, they just teleport next to the door.
 * When Bravo-Two finds the room with the Scalar Weapon in it, Sweetwater says it would take a lot of C4 to break through the glass and probably blow up the plane. But when they return for the second time and the cutscene starts, Haggard only use 2 charges of C4, and it still rips the plane apart.
 * While in free-fall when the player has to kill Kirilenko, the plane can be clearly seen falling towards the Gulf of Mexico with its smoke trail. However, when the squad lands, there is a large piece of the plane burning in a field behind them, albeit it looks like the rear section that was blown off and was not seen during the free-fall segment.
 * It is possible to kill Kirilenko with a hip-fire shot, though it takes numerous hits to do so and is very hard to keep a steady aim on him while trying.
 * Before the player finds the Scalar Weapon, if they shoot the big glass between the Scalar Weapon and themselves, they can see the cracked glass while the cutscene plays.
 * It's odd why Haggard never used the USAS-12 semi shotgun and how he got it.
 * If the player turns to look at the squad after shooting the first guard, the squad will suddenly move up and will instantly acquire AKS-74us.
 * If the player looks closely at one of the first two guards killed, one of them uses the character model of a soldier using a scrapped kit appearance seen in the second "Squad Stories" trailer.
 * If the player looks at Marlow and Sweetwater in the cutscene at the cockpit, they have M60's.
 * During the cutscene when Haggard plants the C4, the radio part is facing the glass, and it wouldn't normally stick.
 * Also during the cut-scene when the C4 is planted, Preston holds an MP-443 Grach like an assault rifle

Glitches

 * It is possible for some characters to get stuck in the walls of the plane. One example is that Sweetwater may spawn inside a wall during the cutscene where Bravo-Two finds that the plane is on autopilot and Kirilenko is with the Scalar Weapon. Another occurrence can happen with some of the Russian soldiers where, upon being killed by the player, they will be stuck in a wall.
 * There is a rare glitch where the second gaurd who is charging at Malowe would not budge or move even when Marlowe kills the first gaurd, instead, he remains like he did at the beginning mission, still talking.