Italy deploys to multinational military exercise in Australia

The Italian Air Force has deployed to Australia to participate in a multinational exercise, Pitch Black, where it will participate in a live-fly training activity for the first time.
The biennial exercise is organised by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), hosted at RAAF Base Darwin and RAAF Base Tindal in the Northern Territory. This year’s iteration (Pitch Black 24) is the largest in the exercise’s 43 year history, bringing together 20 nations and over 140 aircraft from around the world.
The Italian detachment (consisting of some 400 personnel) will participate with six F-35A and F-35B aircraft, four Eurofighters, a KC-767A air-to-air refuelling tanker and an E-550 Conformal Airborne Early Warning (CAEW) aircraft.
Although Exercise Pitch Black is designed to hone the RAAF’s operational responsiveness, it also “allows Australia to contribute to the sovereign security of participating nations, ensuring they too are ready to respond to contingency operations,” says the RAAF. Additionally, participation in the exercise provides “significant benefit” to international attendees, including experience in deploying over long distances.
“Exercise Pitch Black 24 involves some of the moat advanced air combat capabilities in the world, flown and supported by a highly skilled workforce in a challenging training environment,” concludes the RAAF. The exercise will run until 2 August.