The film starts out at the Farnborough Airshow where a demo Mirage 2000-10 is stolen. French Air Force pilots Captain Antoine "Walk'n" Marchelli (BenoÃ®t Magimel) and Captain SÃ©bastien "Fahrenheit" Vallois (Clovis Cornillac) are instructed to escort it back. When the rogue pilot attempts to shoot at Vallois, Marchelli is forced to destroy the stolen Mirage.
The French "Special Missions" department, seeking to blackmail Marchelli into working for them, tampers with the video from Marchelli's gun camera. A subsequent court martial finds Marchelli guilty of destroying the stolen Mirage without provocation and discharges him from the air force, prompting Vallois to resign as well.
Special Missions promises to have them reinstated if they fly a Cannonball run over hostile territory to the Horn of Africa to help sell the Mirage to an Asian customer. Marchelli and Vallois agree but are forced to land in hostile territory before completing the flight. They are captured by terrorists intent on stealing their planes. Marchelli and Vallois manage to escape in one of the jets, while the terrorists dismantle and make off with another.
The terrorists plan use the stolen Mirage to shoot down a tanker aircraft over Paris during the Bastille Day celebrations. Marchelli and Vallois intercept the rogue Mirage and shoot it down over an unpopulated area.
Who are forced to land in hostile territory?
Marchelli and Vallois