Exercise Pitch Black Hosted by Royal Australian Air Force

Exercise Pitch Black, a biennial three week multi-national large force employment exercise, conducted from Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Base in Darwin and RAAF Base in Tindal, aims to foster international co-operation between participating partner forces through the development of capabilities such as intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance, was held from 24 July to 18 August 2018 in Darwin, Australia. Indian Air Force (IAF) for the first time participated with air assets in the Exercise Pitch Black (PB-18). IAF had earlier participated in the exercise as observers. With participation of 16 nations and more than 140 aircraft, the current edition was the largest Pitch Black ever conducted by Australia. IAF contingent, led by Group Captain CUV Rao, consisted of 145 air-warriors including IAF Commandos team, Garuds, 04 X Su-30 MKI, 01 X C-130 and 01 X C-17 for logistic support for induction and de-induction.

Pitch Black exercise started as a bilateral air combat exercise in the mid-1980s between Australia and Singapore, and was named for the dark nights found over Australia’s sparsely populated north.

Objectives for the Exercise Pitch Black were to foster closer relationship between the participating friendly forces and to promote interoperability through exchange of knowledge and experience. According to IAF the aim for participating crew and specialist observers was to expose them to op environment in international scenarios. The exercise comprised of 2 phases:

• Force Integration week: During which, the forces flew basic missions with an aim to get to same working platform.
• Missions involved larger packages that undertook simulated air combat exercises in near realistic environment and exchanged best practices towards enhancing our operational capability.

Various day and night operations were undertaken by the IAF and for the first time:

• SU-30MKI carried out Air to Air Refueling with KC-30A of RAAF.  KC-30A Multi Role Tanker Transport is a modified Airbus A330 airliner that is used by RAAF to conduct air-to-air refuelling and provide strategic airlift.
• Some highlights of the exercise included exchange sorties flown by IAF pilots flying in Rafale & RAAF F/A-18 (Hornets) and RAAF crew & French Crew flying in SU-30MKI.
• IAF C-130J crew got a unique opportunity to fly in RAAF C130J aircraft. C-130J also carried out assault landing at Dalmare, Assault Operations of dropping specialist vehicles in Op area and participation in Large Force Engagement missions, both by day and night.
• Certain maiden operations undertaken by the IAF during the exercise included IAF Commandos, Garuds and Para Jump Instructors jumping from C-27J Spartan in a foreign country, Container Delivery System (CDS) drop by C-130 J, Engine Running Ops (ERO) for dropping Ops Specialist Vehicles in Combat Zone.
• During the exercise, IAF maintenance crew ensured 100% serviceability of all the assets, thus ensuring complete participation of the forces in the exercise.

For Australian Government, Exercises such as Pitch Black are pivotal to ensuring Air Force remains ready to respond whenever the Australian Government requires. The training and integration of forces that occurs during this exercise directly supports Air Force’s ability to conduct operations.

Exercise Pitch Black features a range of realistic, simulated threats which can be found in a modern battle-space environment and is an opportunity to test and improve our force integration, utilising one of the largest training airspace areas in the world — Bradshaw Field Training Area and Delamere Air Weapons Range.

Activities such as Exercise Pitch Black recognises the strong relationship Australia has with its participant nations that include Australia, Canada, France (New Caledonia), Germany, Indonesia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, India, Malaysia and the United States and the high value it places on regional security and fostering closer ties throughout the Asia Pacific region.

IAF contingent interacted with various countries during Exercise Pitch Black, gained first-hand experience of training patterns, employment and operating philosophies of their combat assets. It provided a unique opportunity for exchange of knowledge and experience with the participating nations in a dynamic warfare environment. Participation in a multinational air exercise assumes importance in view of the continued engagement of IAF with friendly foreign countries. Over the last decade, IAF has been actively participating in operational exercises hosted by various countries, wherein collaborative engagements have been undertaken with the best air forces in the world. It was a unique, fascinating, desirable and timeless learning at the exercise for the IAF contingent.

Professionalism and work ethos of IAF Pilots, technicians, Airmen and all participating Air-Warriors, earned praises from all quarters. The Operational lessons learnt by IAF during the exercise will assist IAF in adding more teeth to its overall war waging capabilities and assist us in better joint man ship with the friendly Nations. IAF has de-inducted from Darwin, Australia and has reached Malaysia on its return journey to India.