{"product_id":"9780007342921_hellfire","title":"Hellfire","description":"\u003cp\u003eHe launched the weapon that changed a war.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMay 2006. Ed Macy arrives in Afghanistan along with the Apache AH Mk 1 on its first operational tour. It's an unfamiliar combat zone with a limited role for the Apache and Ed's time is spent escorting Chinooks. But one month later, during Operation Mutay, with 3 Para pinned down in Helmand, the arguments about the Apache's potential are thrown out and Ed deploys the first ever Hellfire missile in combat.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThat squeeze of the trigger changed the war for the British and the Taliban alike. The £4.2bn Apache programme was dramatically redirected to fighting the enemy head-on and turned Ed and his squadron into one of the British Army's greatest assets.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEd recounts the intense months that followed Mutay: the steep learning curve, the new missions, the evolving enemy and the changing Rules of Engagement. He also sheds light on his early career as a young paratrooper, his operational baptism as a pilot and how both shaped his ability to fly, fight and survive during that fateful first Afghanistan tour against a cunning and ruthless enemy.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt was here, in the dusty wastes of Helmand that Ed, his colleagues and the Apache found themselves on trial for their lives and for the reputation of a machine on which the British government had staked a fortune. The crucible of fire that awaited them in Helmand would cement the fate of man and machine forever.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Ed Macy","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47284755529877,"sku":"9780007342921","price":16.99,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0484\/3175\/9509\/files\/9780007342921.png?v=1776992083","url":"https:\/\/harpercollins.com.au\/products\/9780007342921_hellfire","provider":"HarperCollins AU","version":"1.0","type":"link"}