Acceptable Losses

"Sabotage the remote airbase with your silenced weapons and heartbeat sensor."

- Spec Ops description

Acceptable Losses is the third Special Ops mission from the Delta group in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. It is based on the level "Cliffhanger" with the player trying to sneak into and sabotage a remote airbase located in the mountains.

The Infinity Ward best time for Acceptable Losses is 48.15 seconds.

Overview
Acceptable Losses starts behind a hangar identical to the one where the ACS Module was located in the level Cliffhanger. The player must sneak their way through the base, evading patrols and planting C4 charges on an attack helicopter, a fighter jet and inside a building. After planting these the player must escape to a location marked with green smoke.

Walkthrough
For one player, trade the USP for the silenced MP5SD. Hop the low berm between the hangars and take out the lone guard near the corner of the hangar. That done, switch to the AA12 with heartbeat sensor and navigate your way through the airfield (avoiding guards) by quickly moving (but not sprinting since that lowers your stealth and denies you the chance to view the sensor screen) to your targets.

Try putting bombs on the MiG-29's missile first (the furthest one away) since there is a jeep that drives around the Mi-24 Hind chopper. Go prone if enemy patrols are nearby and sabotage the MiG-29 first. Once done, slowly head back and listen to MacTavish's radio for alerts to the jeep. You can hide near the roadblocks (kneeling), wait for the jeep to pass by, sabotage the Mi-24 Hind's tail, and head back to where you started (use the dead guy for the marker).

With two bombs down, take your partner along the edge of the map to the final sabotage point. Stop at the top of the hill (near the orange plastic fencing) and wait for two enemies to pass by. You should kill these two around the building with the sabotage point, as they will return. The best spot is either on the side of the orange container or out of sight of the guys in the building (i.e., not in sight of the doorways).

With those two downed, use the MP5SD to take out the guy sitting in the building. Circle around to the other side to you can see the sabotage point and the guard smoking near it. Snipe him as well and place your C4 on the final spot.

To escape, turn towards the exit and you should be between the impassable fence and a Quonset hut. Wait for the jeep to pass by (use the sensor) and be ready to take out the guard at the corner. Once he's out, there's generally an alert. Sprint to the exit (behind watchtower with the laptop in campaign) and you're done.

Trivia

 * On regular, it is possible to complete Acceptable Losses with the enemies alerted, but the player must sprint very quickly to escape the base, as enemies can quickly overwhelm them.
 * The ACS module from the campaign mission "Cliffhanger" can be found in Acceptable Losses (although it can not be picked up or interacted with) near the starting point.
 * One of the objectives is to plant C4 on a MiG-29, there are two guards conversing next to it. If one watches them for a moment, they will notice that they perform exactly the same movements at exactly the same time.
 * If a player approaches a standing guard from behind whilst prone, they can touch the guard's legs without alerting them or the guard they are talking with. If the player repeatedly moves against their legs, the guard will appear to jerk upwards momentarily.
 * When the player picks up an unsuppressed weapon, they will be referred to as Roach by Captain MacTavish. This is most likely due to reused audio files.