Exercise Pitch Black 2024 Concludes

Exercise Pitch Black 24 concludes today after three weeks of high-intensity training in the skies over Australia’s top end.

The Royal Australian Air Force’s premier international engagement activity, the exercise involved approximately 4400 personnel and 140 aircraft from 20 nations.

It was the biggest Pitch Black in the exercise’s 43-year history with missions of more than 50 aircraft at a time in one of the world’s largest military training areas.

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.

“The feedback from all international partners and our own people alike was that Exercise Pitch Black 24 was a world-class air combat training activity,” Air Commodore Robinson said.

“More than 1700 missions were flown in the exercise across an exercise area about the size of Great Britain. 

“The value of this exercise comes in the experience we’ve built with international partners, and the friendships and relationships we’ve created with them on the ground and in the air.”

Air Commodore Robinson saved special praise for his staff who activated their safety and emergency training when an Italian Air Force pilot ejected from a Typhoon aircraft on July 24. 

 “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 all performed.”

Exercise Pitch Black 24 highlights included first-time participation by aircraft and personnel from Philippines, Spain, Italy, and Papua New Guinea as well as embedded personnel from Fiji and Brunei.

The exercise also involved aircraft from France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States; and embedded personnel from Canada and New Zealand.

The exercise was conducted predominantly from RAAF Bases Darwin and Tindal in the Northern Territory and RAAF Base Amberley in Queensland.

Media Note

More information about exercise participants, flying activity, and public events is available from https://www.airforce.gov.au/news-events/events/exercise-pitch-black.

Imagery of this exercise is available at http://images.defence.gov.au/S20240572. 

Video of this exercise is available at http://images.defence.gov.au/PBK24-093.