Bitter about the retreat, Spetsnaz officer Yuri Borbikov formulates Operation Red Metal, an extensive military strike across Europe as a large diversion to retake the mine.

In Arlington, Virginia, Marine Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Connolly, an Afghanistan infantry veteran, works in the Joint Staff office of the Pentagon with Army Major Bob Griggs.

In Moscow, Russia, President Anatoly Rivkin authorizes Operation Red Metal without the approval of the Ministry of Defence in response to crippling economic sanctions.

He assigns Colonel General Eduard Sabaneyev to lead a lightning raid via militarized trains into Europe to destroy the US African and European Commands in Stuttgart, Germany, under the guise of military exercises with Belarus.

Meanwhile, Colonel General Boris Lazar is tasked to lead an invasion force to seize Mrima Hill by travelling overland through Iran, also under the guise of military exercise, and covertly sail to Djibouti where they will be free to advance into Kenya before the US can mount a response.

His investigation is ignored by the French government, but he tips off his son, Captain Apollo Arch-Blanchette of the 13th Parachute Dragoon special reconnaissance regiment, who discovers Russian satellite phone signals at mountain peaks in Germany, Austria, and the Czech Republic.

A young TDF volunteer named Paulina Tobiasz becomes a local hero and is promoted to sergeant after her entire company is wiped out by a Russian armoured column.

Despite their attempted defense, the US-German forces take heavy casualties as the Russian armour units lay waste to AFRICOM, EUCOM, Katterbach Kaserne, and Ramstein Air Base, severely crippling NATO's military and logistical strength.

Having completed their objectives in Europe, the Kremlin contacts the White House and demands a ceasefire and safe return of all Russian forces through Germany and Poland into neutral Belarus, which the US and NATO accept.

Meanwhile, General Lazar marches his forces southeast through Iran for Oman, where they embark on a heavily guarded flotilla escorted by Iranian container ships west for Djibouti City.

The Pentagon then deploys the Marine Regimental Combat Team 5 under the command of Colonel Ken Caster to sail to East Africa aboard the USS Boxer (LHD-4) and prevent the Russians from taking Mrima Hill.

Upon arriving at the port of Djibouti City, Lazar's flotilla is attacked by the submarine USS John Warner, destroying oil tankers and rendering his T-90 battle tanks useless.

Upon receiving intelligence from Apollo's Dragoons, the 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion conducts delaying ambushes against the Russians at Moyale, Ethiopia, and Mount Kenya.

The Russians eventually reach Belarus and cross the Bug River, where General Sabaneyev leaves a T-14 Armata platoon as a rearguard to fire on the pursuing NATO forces, confident that they will not retaliate.

As the Marines are pressed to their breaking point, however, the USS John Warner slips through a Russian-Iranian blockade off the Kenyan coast and fires Tomahawk cruise missiles that destroy most of the Russian artillery batteries.

Lazar goes missing in action as his BTR is destroyed and is presumed dead by Colonel Borbikov, who assumes command and orders a VDV regiment of the 76th Guards Air Assault Division to launch a final attack.

Sensing the dire situation, Apollo leads his Dragoon platoon and a Marine squad on a recon sortie to mark the Russian paratrooper's staging areas for artillery strikes.

With the staging areas marked, Connolly gives the Marine artillery batteries Pentagon authorization for a massive "Shake 'n Bake" fire mission that decimates the VDV regiment and destroys many BTRs.

Colonel Grant returns to Germany expecting a court-martial for violating Belarusian neutrality but is instead reassigned to Fort Bliss, he and his subordinates share a celebratory round of beer with their German counterparts.

They met with a French special forces commander in Paris from the 13th Parachute Dragoon Regiment, and spent a day aboard the USS John Warner (SSN-785), a nuclear powered Virginia-class attack submarine of the United States Navy.