Air Battle Force (Patrick McLanahan Series #11)

In military circles it's known as Air Battle Force—an air combat unit of the future, under the command of aerial warfare expert Major General Patrick McLanahan, capable of launching stealthy, precision-guided firepower to anywhere on the globe within hours. And now McLanahan and his warriors have their first target.

Driven from Afghanistan, the parasitic forces of the deposed Taliban regime have decided to feed on a new host—an isolated, oil-rich Central Asian neighbor that's ripe for the conquering. The battle for control of the world's largest oil deposits has begun, with unsteady alliances forming and opposing forces set to collide. And now a handful of American commandos half a world away, aided by McLan-ahan's unproven robotic warplanes, will have to triumph against overwhelming numbers in a war that nobody—including "friendly" forces at home—wants them to win.

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 wealthy central Asian state. As 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. 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.

Performed by David McCallum.

Publishers Weekly

This absorbing techno-thriller follows the author's established pattern of fast action in the air and on the ground, its hard-driving protagonists equipped with an arsenal of futuristic hardware. Patrick McLanahan is back again, this time as air force major general in charge of the First Air Battle Force, a secret experimental unit with the controls to a jackpot of high-tech toys, among them air-retrievable bomb-carrying drones, venerable B-52s packing brand-new, high-powered lasers, and B-1s (called Vampires) capable of carrying out unmanned missions. Supporting McLanahan are a respectable company of the other continuing characters in the author's air force saga, which has acquired (like Clancy's Jack Ryan volumes) some of the attributes of an alternate history. These include Rebecca Furness, with her first star; maverick Daren Mace, still under a cloud and still in love with Rebecca; cigar-smoking acting Secretary of State Maureen Hershel; and charismatic ex-President Kevin Martindale. All collide when a Taliban raid into Turkmenistan leads to the overthrow of the Russian-backed Turkmen government. Eager to set things right, the Russian chief of staff engineers a military coup in Russia, pumping up the threat of war between Russia and the U.S. At the end, Brown (Wings of Fire, etc.) has deftly set up his next book, with Turkmenistan ruled by Jalaluddin Turabi, a former Taliban bandit and now a budding statesman, while the Russians bare their fangs over the not-unexpected destruction of their bombers by the Air Battle Force. Brown fans will declare this a page-turning delight. (One-day laydown May 13) Forecast: The ins and outs of high-tech war are of particular interest now, and Brown's latest effort-his first novel with Morrow, which is launching a major ad/promo campaign-should have no trouble scaling bestseller lists. Simultaneous Harper Audio and Harper Large Print editions; film rights sold to New Millennium. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Dale Brown is the author of numerous New York Times bestsellers, starting with Flight of the Old Dog in 1987. A former U.S. Air Force captain, he often flies his own plane over the skies of the United States.