THE WAR SEEN FROM THE SKY

Awarded his fighter pilot's wings in 1998, Commandant Marc S now has more than 3,800 flying hours to his credit, including nearly 2,200 hours on the Mirage 2000D. Flying this aircraft optimised for precision bombing, he took part in ten operational deployments and flew more than 150 combat missions in Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Libya.

Fire support missions for ground troops, shows of force, deep raids into enemy territory, day and night bombing — Commandant Marc S. experienced, over the course of his fifteen years of operational service, the most extraordinary and the most dramatic situations alike.

With The War Seen from the Sky, the reader takes a seat in the cockpit of a Mirage 2000D to discover the full complexity of modern aerial warfare. Alongside the author, the reader moves through the successive stages leading from qualification as an operational combat pilot to the much-coveted role of flight leader. Through the account of combat missions and exceptional training sorties the author experienced — including the famous Red Flag exercise — Commandant Marc S. sheds unprecedented light on life behind the scenes in a fighter squadron, the arc of a career, and the crew dynamics aboard a modern strike fighter.

Through his perspective and experience, he reveals for the first time the daily reality of a 21st-century combat pilot — the relentless learning curve, extreme technical demands, physical exhaustion and psychological pressure, but also the intense satisfactions and emotions. A unique and gripping account, The War Seen from the Sky is an essential testimony that keeps the reader riveted from first page to last.