Books like Sky Hunters by Jack Shane

Bobby Autry is renowned as one of the world’s best combat helicopter pilots, having survived countless tests under fire. When he is assigned to lead the Special Operations Air Regiment’s newest elite unit, the X‑Battalion, he faces a fresh challenge: assembling the most unpredictable and fearless pilots the military has ever seen. The X‑Battalion is designed to outfly any other air force, outshoot the best gunners among SEALs and Delta Force, and operate independently like top‑tier guerrillas. Their first mission centers on North Korea, where dictator Kim Il‑Sung is poised to unleash an apocalyptic weapon that could poison the entire planet with radioactive fallout. With only 48 hours to act, Autry must rely on his unit’s audacity and willingness to bend rules to stop the catastrophe. In this high‑stakes thriller, the stakes are not just survival but the fate of the world, as the X‑Battalion’s silent, lethal strikes become humanity’s last hope.

First publish date: September 27, 2005