India will take part in Exercise Pitch Black 2026, with four Rafale fighter jets, two C-17 aircraft and more than 120 Indian Air Force personnel travelling to Darwin for the Royal Australian Air Force’s largest multinational air combat exercise.
The three-week exercise will run from 20 July to 7 August, bringing together up to 100 aircraft and more than 2,500 personnel from 20 nations across RAAF Bases Darwin, Tindal and Amberley.
The Indian contingent will train alongside air forces from participating countries, with the exercise focused on improving interoperability, combat flying skills and cooperation between partner nations.
Exercise Pitch Black has been held in Darwin since 1983. This year’s edition will feature the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force’s F-35A Lightning II aircraft and Indonesia’s T-50I Golden Eagle jets for the first time. Personnel from Finland and Sweden will also participate as embedded members.
The exercise will involve aircraft from the United States, Japan, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, the Republic of Korea, India, Singapore, Germany, France and Spain. New Zealand, Fiji, Canada, Brunei, Malaysia, Finland and Sweden will also contribute embedded personnel.
Air Commodore Matthew McCormack, Exercise Commander of Pitch Black 2026, said the exercise would provide realistic and complex training opportunities for participating forces.
“Exercise Pitch Black 2026 is Air Force’s largest, collective training activity with our partners and allies,” he said.
“It’s where we plan together, fight together and learn together through realistic and complex training scenarios.”
Air Commodore McCormack said the exercise would build on lessons from the 2024 edition and would use the extensive military training airspace available in northern Australia.
He said the activity would strengthen cooperation between participating nations and support the objectives of Australia’s National Defence Strategy.
The exercise forms part of a wider period of high-tempo flying activity across northern Australia, following Exercises Diamond Storm and Southern Cross.
The Northern Territory community will have opportunities to see some of the participating aircraft and personnel during the Mindil Beach Flying Display on 23 July and the RAAF Base Darwin Open Day on 1 August.
The High Commission of India said the Indian Air Force contingent would spend the exercise flying alongside counterparts from partner nations, with the training intended to strengthen operational cooperation and relationships between participating air forces.
Exercise Pitch Black 2026 is being hosted across northern Australia as participating nations conduct joint air combat training in a multinational setting.
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