Overview
- Exercise Pitch Black 26, which ran from July 20 to August 7, concluded after three weeks of high‑intensity training with about 100 aircraft and 2,500 personnel from 21 nations.
- For the first time Finland and Sweden sent official observer delegations to the exercise at RAAF Base Darwin but did not deploy aircraft and limited their role to learning and observation.
- Finland’s team, led by Lieutenant Colonel Ville Uggeldahl, concentrated on how Australia integrates fourth‑ and fifth‑generation fighters and command‑and‑control systems to operate F‑35A jets alongside coalition partners.
- Sweden’s delegation, represented by Master Sergeant Ronny Hagman, studied sustainment and maintenance methods for operating fast jets like the F/A‑18F at large scale and under exercise tempo.
- The visits signal Pitch Black’s growing role as a cross‑regional forum for interoperability, with lessons learned likely to inform how Finland and Sweden plan F‑35 training and how partners handle logistics and dispersed operations in the future.