U.S. Army helicopter pilot Jake Preston is debriefed at a Pentagon meeting after surviving a military debacle in the Catamarca Desert in South America supporting a U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) mission against “the Cartel,” a power drug operation. Preston’s helicopter unit of two Cobras and one Blackhawk was no match against a Scorpion attack helicopter flown by mercenary-terrorist Eric Stoller. The only survivor, Preston is especially angry that his friend, Lieutenant Dobbs, was killed, and demands that the downed airmen be avenged. Because of America’s “executive mandate” to stop the illicit drug trade from Latin America, political leaders order General Olcott to mobilize a special army helicopter unit. Olcott puts Colonel A. K. McNeil in charge of the mission, and tells him to include Jake Preston. The colonel orders Chief Warrant Officer Brad Little to report to Camp Mitchell, Arizona, to train a team of helicopter pilots how to fly the Army’s new “agile, mobile, and hostile” AH-64 Apache. With its ability to do aerial somersaults and climb 3,000 feet per minute, the Apache is the only helicopter capable of fighting a Scorpion attack helicopter. Chief Brad Little, once the Army’s top gun, wants to be part of the task force, but McNeil stresses that his job is to train younger pilots. When Jake reports to Camp Mitchell, he is surprised that his former girl friend, Billie Lee Guthrie, is now a Scout helicopter pilot, whose job is to provide reconnaissance and “laser paint” targets for other pilots to destroy. Jake tries to rekindle their relationship, but Billie Lee wants no part of him, because he demanded that she be a traditional, obedient woman. During a briefing, Colonel McNeil explains that the Cartel has become wealthy enough to purchase its own fighter jets and flying ace Eric Stoller, who pilots a small but deadly Scorpion. Currently at war with a South American government, the Cartel is preparing an offensive to take over the country. The pilots watch films of Stoller and Cuban troops. Later, the unit gives a surprise party for Chief Little and his wife Janet, who has joined him at Camp Mitchell. The pilots and their gunners practice war games in the “Black Box,” a video game-like simulator. Chief Little emphasizes that pilots “use the terrain,” flying low until they “pop up” and strike. Training with gunner Calvin Breaker, Jake proclaims himself “the greatest” as he blasts targets, but when he has to use the “monocle,” a device that lets him see the Apache’s computer images with his right eye, he “crashes.” Later, Jake approaches Billie Lee at a Laundromat and accuses her of sacrificing their relationship for flight school. The next morning, as Chief Little jogs, younger pilots run past him, and he soon becomes fatigued. That afternoon, he instructs his men that the best way to destroy an enemy helicopter is to get above and behind it and shoot down through its rotors. Later, at a disco, Jake gets into a fight with another officer over Billie Lee, and she walks out in disgust, demanding that Jake stay away from her. Colonel McNeil informs Chief Little that the Cartel has moved up its assault schedule, and the task force must be ready to deploy in a few days, but again he rebuffs Little’s request to fight with the unit, telling him that combat is “a young man’s game.” Little takes Jake on a training mission to learn the Apache’s right-eye sighting mechanism, but the young pilot cannot focus, and Little terminates the flight, putting Jake on probation. Devastated that he will miss the upcoming mission, Jake complains to Billie Lee that his left eye kept “taking over.” She points out that he has an “eye dominance” problem, because he is right-handed but aims with his left eye. Jake pleads with Chief Little for one more chance. That night, when Little tells his wife that his best pilot is washing out because he cannot use the Apache’s monocle sight, she reminds him of the old trick he used many years earlier. The next day, Little creates a makeshift periscope for Jake’s right eye and blinds his left eye with a pair of tight red panties. Driving around the desert in a Jeep, Jake gradually learns to navigate with only his right eye. After passing his test in the Apache, Jake celebrates by taking Billie Lee to a desert adobe hotel in his red Corvette, but she insists on driving. That night, they make love. In the final air-to-air combat test, Jake outmaneuvers Chief Little. General Olcott announces that the DEA is ready to launch Operation Firebird against the Cartel, and the task force has twenty-four hours to redeploy. Colonel McNeil picks Little to be his personal flight leader. Jake becomes angry when he learns Billie Lee will be the mission’s combat scout, fearing she might be killed. When the unit arrives at a Catamarca Desert staging area to await final orders, it comes under a attack, forcing the pilots and gunners to run to their helicopters. In her tiny Scout, Billie Lee finds enemy radar, and other pilots blow it up, but when she stumbles upon the Cartel’s airstrip, Eric Stoller gives chase in his Scorpion. Billie Lee radios Jake, who arrives in time to drive Stoller off. Suddenly, a jet fighter shoots down one of the Apaches, and another jet joins the battle. One jet is blown up, but Chief Little’s helicopter is shot down and his gunner killed. Billie Lee lands her Scout nearby and finds Chief Little injured, but alert. As a jet strafes them, Little instructs her how to use the helicopter’s Stinger air-to-air missile launcher as a shoulder launcher, and she shoots it down. Stoller chases Jake, but the American pilot uses the Apache’s maneuverability to drop down a cliff and roll back up as Stoller passes over, placing Jake behind and above the Scorpion—the optimum position for destroying the enemy. He blows Stoller out of the sky. Afterward, the colonel congratulates the pilots for distracting and then destroying the Cartel’s air power, allowing the DEA to successfully round up Cartel members. Jake flies with a medical helicopter to rescue Chief Little. He embraces Billie Lee, and when they fly back to the staging area in her Scout, she insists on “driving.”