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Over eighty aircraft and 2300 personnel from seven countries took part in the biennial Exercise Pitch Black over the empty skies of Australia’s Top End in August.

Pitch Black is a major air defence exercise and the largest one of its kind in Australia. Held every two years, it focuses not only on the employment of large forces, but also the integration of aircraft, pilots and ground crews from several allied air forces

The Bradshaw Field Training Area and Delamere Range Facility are the targets which ‘Blue Force’, (based largely in Darwin) must attack against determined opposition from the determined ‘Red Force’ based to a large degree in Tindal, near Katherine.

The relatively empty skies of the Northern Territory allow large forces to be marshalled; permitting large force employment, which even the famous ‘Red Flag’ series of exercises held in the United States cannot match.

Exercise Scenario
Pitch Black is an Offensive Counter Air (OCA) and Defensive Counter Air (DCA) exercise which permits a large coalition of forces to operate together in the vast airspace of the Northern Territory. The airspace available covers an area approximately 250 x 200 Nautical Miles and encompasses the weapons ranges at Delamere and Bradshaw.

The first week of the three week exercise is given over to a Force Integration Training (FIT) period whereby the participants get used to operating with each other and become familiar with air traffic control and airspace procedures. This then moves on to the Large Force Employment (LFE) phase over the following two weeks, which sees daytime and night-time launches of around forty aircraft from Darwin and twenty from Tindal.

The 2014 exercise saw RAAF F/A-18A Hornets and F/A-18F Super Hornets operating with fighter aircraft from the air forces of Singapore, Thailand, the United States and, making their debut in Australian skies, the United Arab Emirates.

Additionally the French Air Force provided a CN-235 transport and personnel from the Royal New Zealand Air Force supported the exercise with ground personnel.

Both real (inert) and simulated weapons are employed on the Delamere range and many of the aircraft carry an Air Combat Manoeuvring Instrumentation (ACMI) pod, which stores aircraft and weapons data that is downloaded after each sortie, with the support of Cubic.

The information is then compiled and the exercise is replayed on a large screen in an auditorium used for debriefing the aircrews and commanders. The participants based in Tindal access the debriefing conference via a video-link with the Task Unit Headquarters (TUHQ) in Darwin.

“In terms of the scenario, it’s really about those forces meeting in the tactical training area, and of course when you put between 40 and 80 aircraft into that space there has to be a large amount of training and co-ordination,” explained exercise director, Group Captain Micka Gray.

“The day before, the mission commander is given a task from the operational commanders and he plans to safely and effectively execute that with all those forces. We’re always looking to improve Pitch Black, we’re fighting with and against aircraft we haven’t had here before.”

Participants
One of the main benefits of such large-scale international exercises is the opportunity to integrate many of the different aircraft types which may be encountered during future coalition operations.

The United Arab Emirates brought six Mirage 2000-9 fighters to Darwin which, alongside a similar number of Royal Thai Air Force JAS-39 Gripens, provided exercise opportunities beyond the normal F-15, F-16 or Hornet platforms usually encountered by the RAAF.

Supporting the UAE Mirages was an Airbus A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT), similar to the RAAF’s KC-30A.

Number 75 Squadron of the Royal Australian Air Force is permanently based at Tindal and as such traditionally plays a major role in ‘Red Air’, defending Bradshaw & Delamere against offensive strikes from the north.

However the 2014 exercise saw the squadron deploy to Darwin, to fly OCA missions instead of their usual defensive counter air role. Their place was taken by 77 Squadron, which deployed from Williamtown to Tindal to fill the ‘Red Air’ role.

The Republic of Singapore Air Force is a regular at Pitch Black exercises, first participating in 1990, and this year it brought a fighter force of six F-15SG Eagles and eight F-16C/D Fighting Falcons, together with tanker and airborne early warning and control support.

AEW&C duties were shared between Singapore (G550AEW at Darwin) and Australia (E-7A at Tindal), operating together with the RAAF’s ground-based controllers from 114 Mobile Control & Reporting Unit (MCRU) and 3 Control & Reporting Unit, the latter stationed within the Eastern Region Operations Centre (EASTROC) at Williamtown.

Tanker support for the RAAF Hornets and Super Hornets was provided by 33 Squadron KC-30As, which operated from and to Amberley each day, a return trip of 5700 kilometres (3000 nautical miles).

Prior to the Pitch Black exercise, the capability of the KC-30A was demonstrated by a sortie which departed Darwin at 0630 with 106 tonnes of fuel and flew to Amberley, where it supported two Super Hornets on a mission to the Woomera Test Range for JSOW firings under the aegis of Exercise Stone Age. During this time the aircraft passed ten tonnes of fuel to the two fighters and then held for an hour before passing them a further ten tonnes of fuel for their return journey.

After this, and without landing, the aircraft continued into Northern Territory airspace where it offloaded a further 25 tonnes of fuel over a two-hour period 12 ‘classic’ Hornets participating in Exercise Arnhem Thunder, before landing back in Darwin at 1730, nine and a half hours after it had departed. After a two-hour turn around, the aircraft was airborne again to support night missions in the exercise area.

Defence Minister David Johnston travelled on a KC-30A mission which originated in Canberra during Pitch Black and enthusiastically indicated that the aircraft would soon be taken off the Projects of Concern list following satisfactory progress on remediation of the Aerial Refuelling Boom System (ARBS).

A tactical element was provided by a 37 Squadron C-130J-30 Hercules which, together with the French CN235, was used to insert 4 Sqn Combat Controllers into the Bradshaw Field Training Area against attempts by ‘Red Air’ to shoot them down.

Two King Airs from 38 Sqn provided logistics support between Darwin and Tindal, but were also used to simulate non-government organisation (NGO) aircraft flying within the exercise area. This was aimed at ‘luring’ fighter aircraft into targeting them, thereby breaking the rules of engagement.

Future exercises
With real estate on the ramps at Darwin and Tindal close to maximum capacity, Pitch Black is arguably as large now as it will ever be in the future, but with the introduction of the EA-18G Growler into RAAF Service over the next few years, electronic warfare will play an increasing role.

Electronic Warfare is already exercised in Pitch Black exercises, using both real and simulated capabilities, but further capability will be needed to test aircraft like the Growler and, further into the future, the F-35A Joint Strike Fighter.

“I think electronic warfare will increase over the years, there will certainly be more of those non-kinetic effects in the future,” GPCAPT Gray concluded.

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