Air Battle Force by Dale Brown (2003, Hardcover)

Dale Brown is the author of fourteen New York Times bestsellers, and now he soars to new heights with this outstanding, realistic thriller of warfare and global politics that rivals any headline we can imagine.

On America's newest combat base, U.S. Air Force aerial warfare expert Major General Patrick McLanahan and his crew of daring engineers are devising the air combat unit of the future. Known as Air Battle Force, it can launch concentrated, stealthy, precision-guided firepower to any spot on the globe within hours. And soon McLanahan and his warriors will have their first target.

Chased out of Afghanistan, Taliban fighters are planning to invade the neighboring oil-rich Republic of Turkmenistan, an isolated and incredibly wealthy Central Asian state. As unsteady alliances form and forces collide, the impending battle for control of the world's largest oil deposits threatens to tear apart the tenuous peace created by America's victories in Afghanistan. Now it's up to McLanahan and a handful of American commandos half a world away, aided by an untested and unproven force of robotic warplanes, to win a war in which everyone -- even "friendly" forces at home -- wants them to fail.

Fast. Explosive. Impossible to put down. Air Battle Force is the perfect Dale Brown combination of spellbinding suspense and cutting-edge military technology.