Pitch Black 2026
Over 100 aircraft, around 2,500 participants from 21 nations and pitch-black nights – welcome to the air force exercise Pitch Black 2026.
- Date:
- Place:
- Australia
Over 100 aircraft, around 2,500 participants from 21 nations and pitch-black nights – welcome to the air force exercise Pitch Black 2026.
In northern Australia, nearly picture-perfect sunsets give way to pitch-black nights – much earlier than in Germany. This inspired the exercise’s name: Pitch Black. Around 2,500 soldiers with over 100 aircraft from 21 nations met on the other side of the world, at least from a European perspective, to train jointly for air combat scenarios – often at night.
This year, Pitch Black once again demonstrated the continued strength of Alliance relations in the Indo-Pacific, especially amidst geopolitical tensions. Germany’s participation reinforced its role as a reliable partner in a strategically important region. The large scope of the exercise content enabled participants to train modern air combat scenarios at the highest level.
The European participants from Germany, Spain, France and Great Britain covered more than 13,000 kilometres on their way to Pitch Black 2026. The six German Air Force Eurofighters flew the route with stopovers in Egypt and Malaysia. During the longest of the three stages, the combat aircraft pilots spent ten and a half hours in the cockpit – no ordinary challenge.
From Neuburg to Darwin with only two stops: the German Air Force deployed six Eurofighters via Egypt and Malaysia to northern Australia for Exercise Pitch Black 2026.
Bundeswehr/Leon Belz
In the southern hemisphere, German soldiers wear the sand-coloured tropical uniform and the mandatory exercise patch
Bundeswehr/Christian Timmig
A friendly welcome by the Royal Australian Air Force: as the Germans participate for the third time, some of the Pitch Black participants are already acquainted.
Bundeswehr/Christian Timmig
Bavarian Eurofighter meets Australian F-35: both jets flew together and – for training purposes – against each other at Pitch Black 2026
Bundeswehr/Christian TimmigThe support forces from Finland and Sweden travelled under rather less cramped conditions than the combat aircraft pilots. They did not bring their own aircraft to Australia, but they were responsible for ensuring the smooth employment of the jets on site.
74 Tactical Air Wing from Neuburg an der Donau participated in the exercise for the second time after 2022 with a contingent of 180 soldiers and five civilian employees. In 2024, 71 Tactical Air Wing “Richthofen” was represented with five Eurofighters at Pitch Black. This was the third time in a row the German Air Force had participated in the exercise, thus proving the reliability and continuity of Germany’s commitment to the region. These efforts make European Air Power visible throughout the world.
Approximately 80 containers with materiel were transported by sea to Darwin on the northern coast of Australia for Pitch Black 2026. This had to be planned months before the start of the exercise due to Australia’s strict Biosecurity requirements. This special Australian customs unit controls all materiel to be imported for possible biological contaminants such as grass seeds or insects.
The air-to-air refuelling of the Eurofighters, which was ensured by the Multinational Multi-Role Tanker Transport Unit (MMU), also required intensive coordination in advance. The MMU is based in Eindhoven and Cologne, operates on a multinational basis and includes a large German element.
The Pitch Black exercise series has a 45-year-long tradition and is not only a military exercise but also allows for an exchange with Indo-Pacific region partners who share common values. This was why Contingent Commander and Neuburg Wing Commander, Colonel Jürgen Schönhöfer, explicitly tasked his men and women to enter into conversation with the representatives of the participating nations. He emphasised that this would enable them to learn from each other and train together for tomorrow’s missions – true to the motto of Lieutenant General Holger Neumann, Chief of the German Air Force: “Ready. Fight. Win. Together.”
Pitch Black 2026 took place from 27 July to 7 August 2026, with the preceding Fighter Integration Week from 20 to 24 July 2026. The exercise was mainly conducted from the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) bases Darwin and Tindal in the Australian Northern Territory. The Northern Territory offers ideal conditions for air combat exercises in an extensive airspace over large, sparsely populated areas. The tanker aircraft essential to the exercise operated from the Amberley Air Base in Queensland.
20 allied and friendly nations participated in Pitch Black 2026 – a total of 21 countries, including Australia. This made the exercise one of the largest international air force manoeuvres in the world. In addition to Australia, the following countries were represented at Pitch Black 2026: Brunei, Germany, Fiji, Finland, France, Great Britain, India, Indonesia, Japan, Canada, Malaysia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Sweden, Singapore, Spain, South Korea, Thailand and the United States.
The air forces of Fiji, Finland, Canada, Malaysia, New Zealand and Sweden were on site without their own aircraft, but with support personnel.
Over 100 aircraft participated in Pitch Black 2026. These included combat aircraft such as the F/A-18 Super Hornet, the F-35, the Eurofighter, the Rafale and the F-16, as well as transport and air-to-air refuelling aircraft such as the A400M, the C-130J Hercules and others. The number of aircraft involved varies depending on the particular exercise. The F-35 combat aircraft made the United States Air Force along with the Japanese and Australian air forces particularly interesting training partners for the German Air Force, as the Bundeswehr expects the first German F-35 to be delivered this year.
The German Air Force trained air combat scenarios in a multinational network at Pitch Black 2026. The huge airspace that is available there enabled the Bundeswehr to practice very realistic scenarios across the entire spectrum – an opportunity that rarely presents itself in the more limited German airspace: night flights, low-altitude flights and air-to-air refuelling are among the most basic parts of the exercise. Cooperation with other air forces and the ability to achieve operational readiness quickly and flexibly on a global scale were additional areas the exercise focused on. The German Air Force practiced both air attacks and air defence with the Eurofighter. Participation in Pitch Black 2026 was also a strategic contribution to Germany’s presence in the Indo-Pacific and its ability to honour obligations within the NATO Alliance.
A training day begins with planning and briefing sessions. Then various combat aircraft squadrons fly realistic missions – from air superiority flights to defensive and tactical operations. The level of difficulty increases over the course of these two weeks, from simple missions at first to very complex ones at the end of the exercise; night and day flights alternate. The missions are followed by intensive debriefings of the flights in order to assess the success of the trained tactics and procedures or the need for optimisation for the next mission. However, they also serve as training measures for the individual pilots. The Eurofighters fly several times a day, and the pilots take turns: while some are flying, others are already planning their next mission.
The participants use modern sensors such as radar and infrared tracking systems, satellite-based communication, tactical data links such as Link 16 for data exchange between aircraft and ground station and modern air combat simulators.