Overview
- The Royal Australian Air Force will run Exercise Pitch Black from 20 July to 7 August with up to 100 jet aircraft and about 2,500 personnel operating from RAAF Bases Darwin, Tindal and Amberley.
- Early arrivals have landed in Darwin, with four Philippine FA-50PHs marking the first fighter contingent and an Indian detachment of four Rafales, two C-17s and roughly 120 personnel also on the ground.
- Pitch Black 2026 features new platform entries including Japan’s F-35 Lightning II and Indonesia’s T-50I, plus embedded personnel from Finland and Sweden to broaden interoperability work.
- The exercise uses northern Australia’s vast training airspace to combine fighters, tankers, transports, ISR and command-and-control systems in large-force employment missions that simulate contested operations.
- Organisers plan public outreach through a Mindil Beach flying display on 23 July and a Darwin Open Day on 1 August, and the drills aim to sharpen coalition procedures and practical cooperation between partner air forces.