PITCH BLACK 2022: COLLECTION | The Runway

A collection of articles about Australia's premier air power exercise, Pitch Black: Pitch Black, takes place every two years and is hosted by the RAAF. It is usually conducted in the NT. As the title infers, the exercise is conducted in low light conditions.

Strategic Influences

Exercise Pitch Black begins in Darwin after COVID hiatus, with Germany, Japan and South Korea joining for the first time

Exercise Pitch Black is a multi-national air power focused training exercise held in Australia—in 2022, three new countries are participating for the first time: Germany, Japan and South Korea.

Strategic Influences

Exercise Pitch Black 2022

Exercise Pitch Black is a biennial three-week multi-national large force employment exercise mainly conducted in and over the Northern Territory.

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Exercise Pitch Black takes off

Sixteen nations are currently participating alongside Australia in Exercise Pitch Black. The biennial exercise aims to enhance interoperability and develop strong relationships between participating military forces.

Strategic Influences

Stealth fighters prepare to dogfight over Australian Outback during Pitch Black drills

Marine Corps F-35B Lightning II stealth fighters will join Australian stealth F35A’s in simulated dog fights with regional partners day and night.

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German Fighter Jets En Route To Australia For Joint Exercises

The German Air Force will participate in Exercise Pitch Black in its largest ever peacetime deployment.

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A forecast of Lightning for Pitch Black

Exercise Pitch Black is a biennial three-week multi-national exercise that brings together F35A-equipped Australia's Squadrons with 16 other nations from August 19 to September 8.

Strategic Influences

F-35B jets out of Japan make debut at Australia’s Pitch Black exercise

12 US Marine Corps F-35Bs—normally based in Japan—will be deployed to Australia and, while in Australia, will be practising a US Marine Corps concept known as ‘Expeditionary Advanced Basing Operations’.

Strategic Influences

Eye in the sky: The RSAF early warning plane helping fighter jets see farther

During the biennial military exercise Pitch Black, fighter jets get most of the attention. However, airpower capability does not just involve fighters but depends on many things, such as platforms that can provide an early warning of enemy aircraft

Strategic Influences

RSAF's tanker aircraft refuels Australian and US F-35 fighters for the first time.

RSAF refuelled its own as well as American and Australian aircraft as part of Exercise Pitch Black 2022.

Strategic Influences

‘Dirt det’ marks first time American F-35Bs have operated from an Australian base

Twelve Marine Corps F-35B Lightning IIs and 300 personnel based near Hiroshima, Japan, have been operating from RAAF Base Tindal as part of Exercise Pitch Black.

Strategic Influences

Record number of tankers participate in Pitch Black exercise

Aerial refuelling tankers from France, NATO, Singapore, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the US are significant force multipliers, and it is, therefore, essential for them to participate in military exercises.

Strategic Influences

Exercise Pitch Black 2022 concludes

Exercise Pitch Black enhanced Australian Air Force capability through exercising interoperability between Australia and its allies and potential partners.