The Australia-hosted Pitch Black joint warfighting exercise achieved its highest level of participation ever in 2024.
Pitch Black was launched in 1981 as an Australian military exercise and was expanded to include the United States in 1983. The event has since grown dramatically, and this year, over 4,000 personnel from 20 nations came together to participate. Four newcomers — Italy, Spain, Papua New Guinea and the Philippines — were brought into the fold this year, and over 140 aircraft were sent for use in the exercise.
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Indo-Pacific Deterrence Shapes Joint Warfighting Goals
A “Strategy of Denial”
Released in April, Australia’s first-ever National Defence Strategy is shaped by the Strategy of Denial, which “involves changing a potential adversary’s belief that it could achieve its ambitions with military force at an acceptable cost.”
Collaboration with the U.S., allies and other partners is the backbone of this approach, and military exercises are a major part of projecting power, specifically in the Indo-Pacific region. The AUKUS agreement, a trilateral security partnership between Australia, the U.S. and U.K., is one pathway through which the nation intends to strengthen its relationships with like-minded allies and maintain security in the region.
Pitch Black and Regional Deterrence
Many exercises at Pitch Black were geared toward the integration of various allies with shared goals in the region.
Pacific Skies, a larger operation, included a stop at Pitch Black, Defense News reported. The exercise began with teams from the French, German and Spanish air forces deploying to Alaska and later moving to the Pacific, where they conducted exercises over Hawaii and Japan before joining Pitch Black.
Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine served as a catalyst for many European nations to increase investments in defensive capabilities. Its deepening relationship with China, which holds conflicting interests in the Indo-Pacific, has created a tense and complex security environment in the region that has brought Australia and its allies closer together.
Advanced Technology Takes Center Stage
This year, Pitch Black featured a variety of modern aircraft, including the U.S. Air Force’s F-22A Raptor, which made its first appearance at the air defense-focused exercise. The U.S. also provided the Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey tiltrotors, Stars and Stripes Magazine reported.
The Philippines contributed its FA-50PH Fighting Eagle, marking the aircraft’s first appearance at an international exercise outside the nation’s territory. Fellow newcomer Italy brought six F-35A and F-35B aircraft and four Eurofighters as well as a KC-767 refueling aircraft and an E-550 Conformal Airborne Early Warning Aircraft for use as a command and control platform, according to Air & Space Forces Magazine.
Italy also delivered the Cavour, the first aircraft carrier to ever attend Pitch Black.
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