Page 37 - Australian Defence Magazine November 2022

NOVEMBER 2022 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
DEFENCE BUSINESS PITCH BLACK 2022 37
LEFT: The Luftwaffe’s ‘Air Ambassador’ was one of six Eurofighters deployed to Darwin for the exercise
ABOVE: Detachment Commander of the Japan Air Self Defense Force (JASDF) in Darwin, Colonel M. Tadano
RAPID PACIFIC 2022
Germany sent six EF.2000 Eurofighters from the Luft- waffe’s Tactical Fighter Wing 74 (TaktLwG 74) at Neuburg in Bavaria to Darwin for Pitch Black 2022, proving it is ca- pable of deploying a combat force to the Indo-Pacific within 20 hours of leaving home.
The Eurofighters were supported by MRTTs from NA- TO’s Multinational Multi-role tanker and transport Fleet (MMF), one of which remained in Darwin for the exercise.
A330 multi-role tanker transports (including two RAAF KC-30As) and two US Marine Corps KC-130J Hercules participating in the exercise this year – understood to be the largest international MRTT gathering thus far.
Pitch Black 2022 was also the first in the series to involve the fifth generation Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and both the RAAF and USMC deployed aircraft to the exercise.
Perhaps reflecting a global response to China’s rise, a number of air arms participated for the first time, includ- ing the air forces of Germany, Japan, South Korea and the NATO alliance; and others such as France, India, In- donesia, Singapore and the UK made a welcome return. Even before the exercise had concluded, Germany had an- nounced its intention to return in 2024 and the Philippines’ Department of National Defence (DND) also announced it will participate with fighter aircraft for the first time.
Together with four similar Typhoon FGR.4 aircraft, from the Royal Air Force, the six German Eurofighters represented the European fighter’s debut at the exercise and one was painted in special markings as the Luftwaffe’s ‘Air Ambassador’ for the deployment.
Captain ‘Christoph’, a member of the mission planning team said that while the aircraft were drawn from TaktLwG 74, their pilots came from across the Luftwaffe’s Eurofighter Wings to broaden the experience.
“PITCH BLACK IS THE ROYAL AUSTRALIAN AIR FORCE’S LARGEST EXERCISE AND ALSO THE LARGEST AIR COMBAT EXERCISE REGULARLY HELD IN THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE”
“The big advantage of a big exercise
[like Pitch Black] is that there are many
aircraft here,” he explained. “So, you can see how different airframes perform and for sure we’ll look at the F-35, but we can do that in Europe as well. So, just the combination of all participating aircraft is especially interesting here.”
Following Pitch Black the six Eurofighters remained in Darwin for Exercise Kakadu, after which three deployed to Japan for exercises with the Japan Air Self Defence Force (JASDF).
NIGEL PITTAWAY
NIGEL PITTAWAY