Largest Ever Exercise Pitch Black 2024 Concludes

Exercise Pitch Black 24, the largest in the 43-year history of the exercise has concluded.

Pitch Black 24 featured approximately 140 aircraft and 4,400 personnel from 20 nations.

The Philippines, Spain, Italy, and Papua New Guinea sent their aircraft and personnel to the exercise for the first time. Australia, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Thailand, United Kingdom and United States returned to the exercise, which also featured embedded personnel from Canada and New Zealand.

In a release issued by Australia’s Department of Defence, Air Commodore Pete Robinson, Officer Commanding the Exercise, said the exercise delivered the training and engagement goals of all participating nations and strengthened relationships and friendships.

He said that over 1,700 missions were flown across an exercise area about the size of Great Britain.  “The exercise involves the most advanced combat aircraft in service today, and provides training that’s essential to sustaining peace and stability across the region,” he added.

The release also provided additional details on the exercise, which involved aircraft from France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Thailand, United Kingdom, US; and embedded personnel from Canada and New Zealand.

The greater number of aircraft this year, prompted the RAAF to increase the exercise’s large force employment phase from two waves per day to three, across morning, afternoon and night sorties featuring over 50 aircraft.

Pitch Black 24 featured several firsts with the US Air Force deployed the F-22A Raptor to the exercise for the first time. Coupled with Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and Italian F-35s, this resulted in the largest concentration of fifth-generation combat aircraft at Pitch Black. It was also the first instance of the Philippines deploying combat aircraft abroad, while the Italian Navy’s aircraft carrier ITS Cavour also debuted at the exercise.

This year also witnessed the first major accident of any Pitch Blackexercise, when an Italian Air Force Typhoon aircraft went down during a mission on 24 July. The pilot ejected safely and was retrieved just 90 minutes after rescue personnel were notified of the accident. “We train for these scenarios as part of our safety planning, and I was pleased to see the calm, professional and quick work by our teams to ensure this positive outcome – I couldn’t be happier with how they performed,” Air Commodore Robinson said.

ExercisePitch Black 24 was primarily conducted from RAAF Base Darwin and RAAF Base Tindal in Australia’s Northern Territory; with additional aircraft operating from RAAF Base Amberley, located near Ipswich in Queensland.

The next edition of Exercise Pitch Black will take place in 2026.