Personnel and equipment from 20 countries have arrived in the Top End of Australia for a biennial exercise, making this the largest ever event in the 43-year history of Exercise Pitch Black. The event formally kicked off on 12 July, and it will conclude on 2 August.
Exercise Pitch Black 2024 involves more than 140 aircraft, as well as some 4,435 personnel.
The main exercise locations are RAAF Base Darwin and RAAF Base Tindal in the Northern Territory. However, because of limitations in ramp space as the exercise grows in scale, supporting tanker aircraft are based out of RAAF Base Amberley near Brisbane.
The 16 countries contributing aircraft in 2024 include Australia, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Thailand, the UK and USA.
Other nations contributing personnel or observers, if not aircraft, are Brunei, Canada, Fiji and New Zealand.
The European presence is particularly heavy this year, with four nations sending aircraft. Pan-European participation by three of these European nations falls under a deployment called Pacific Skies. Pitch Black 2024 forms just one leg of this deployment, as French, German and Spanish aircraft progressively train in Alaska, Hawaii, Japan, Australia and India.
This major commitment to the opposite side of the globe reflects growing European concern about challenges to Indo-Pacific security. However, participants were at pains to point out that Pitch Black is not aimed at any single country, and that instead interoperability is a key aim.
This includes the USA. Lieutenant Colonel Ty Bridge, Deputy Chief, Exercises Division of Headquarters, US Pacific Air Forces, told Asian Military Review, “There are other exercises that INDOPACOM has focus both in our strategic messaging, our posture, and our combined joint warfighting,” but that this Australian exercise has a different focus.
He continued, “What Pitch Black allows us to be able to do is focus on the allies and partners, and the interoperability, and allow us to be able to plan in other venues and other times to be able to get at working with those other countries that are focusing on deterrence and a free and open Indo-Pacific.”
There are multiple firsts in Exercise Pitch Black 2024, such as the maiden appearance of Italy, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines and Spain, plus first-time participation of F-22A Raptors.
However, perhaps the most notable evolution this year is the involvement of naval aviation. The Italian Navy sent its aircraft carrier Cavour on a five-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific, with a contingent of Italian Navy AV-8B and F-35B fighters, as well as Spanish Navy EAV-8Bs. This naval piece adds a whole new dimension to the exercise.
by Gordon Arthur
