Another air arm returning to Darwin for their second Pitch Black exercise, is the Spanish Air Force (Ejército del Aire y del Espacio), which has deployed six Eurofighter Tifón (Typhoon) multi-role combat jets and an Airbus A400M tactical transport. It has also deployed a Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRRT) aircraft to RAAF Amberley to support air to air refuelling missions during 2026.
The Spanish Air Force first visited Darwin for Pitch Black 2024 as part of a wider ‘Pacific Skies’ deployment to the region alongside Germany’s Luftwaffe and the French Air Force.
For Pitch Black 2026, the Typhoons are from No.14 Wing, normally based at Albacete in southern Spain, and are they flying both Blue Air (friendly) and Red Air (adversary) missions as the exercise scenario dictates.
“We brought six jets (and) we’re planning on flying eight sorties each day – that makes it four per wave, with two spare jets,” 14 Wing Typhoon pilot, Captain Jaime Molina Cegarra, told ADM during the first week of the exercise.
“Like any other large force exercise, such as Red Flag or Red Flag Alaska, our main training objective is to effectively integrate with other countries, learn how to work together and be flexible, see how the other countries work, and then train ourselves in the planning and execution.
“So, Pitch Black is essentially the same, with the addition of some countries we don’t get the chance to train with in Europe or the US – such as Japan, Thailand and Australia as well.”
Another attraction of the Pitch Black series of air combat exercises is the vast amount of airspace available for training in the Northern Territory.
“I think if we put this airspace over Spain, it would cover the country from north to south,” CAPT Cegarra added.
While the Eurofighter Typhoons are 4 to 4.5 generation fighters, the Spanish Air Force is used to flying against 5th generation aircraft like the F-35As, flown at Pitch Black 2026 by Australia, Japan and the US.
“We’re used to training with F-16s, F/A-18s, Eurofighters in Europe, plus in our wing we have the (NATO) Tactical Leadership Program (TLP). Since it’s held at our home base, we do a lot of training with them if they need Red Air assets,” CAPT Cegarra explained.
“So, there aren’t any aircraft here that we haven’t trained with before – since there are also F-35s in Europe. The Typhoon integrates perfectly, its main role is air-to-air and it’s very good at air superiority, it’s just not stealthy.”
Despite its dominance in the air-to-air role, the Typhoon is a swing-role aircraft, adept at air to ground missions also. During Pitch Black 2026, the Spanish jets will be dropping inert guided munitions within the Delamere weapons range as part of their sovereign training objectives.
“Because of the airspace, it’s a very good opportunity to train with weapons inside a large force exercise,” CAPT Cegarra said.
“In Spain we have a range where we drop weapons, but not integrated into a package like it is in this exercise.”