After several years’ absence, the United Kingdom participated in Australia’s premier air combat exercise in the Top End, Pitch Black 2022. The UK had previously participated in Pitch Black 1998, with a single Sentry AEW.1 Airborne Early Warning and Control (AWACS) aircraft.
This year the Royal Air Force deployed four BAE Systems Typhoon FGR.4 fighters from 6 Squadron at Lossiemouth and a single Airbus Voyager KC.3 from RAF Brize Norton for the exercise. Crews from both 10 Sqn and 101 Sqn were initially deployed to Darwin with the Voyager, but the former reportedly had to return to the UK shortly after their arrival due to urgent operational commitments elsewhere.
“The UK’s contribution to Exercise Pitch Black is designed to be a tangible demonstration of UK air power and highlights the UK’s ability to deploy rapidly at long range,” an RAF spokesperson explained in a written statement.
“It also illustrates the UK’s desire to build professionalism and enhance international military relationships for the safe and effective conduct of air operations with regional and partner nations.”
The deployment of the four Typhoons began from RAF Akrotiri in Cypus, where the aircraft had been part of the RAF’s Operation Shader in the Middle East, and routed via the UAE, Singapore and Darwin, supported by an RAF A400M Atlas C.1.
“Exercising at this scale and complexity is simply not possible in Europe. With 50,000 square miles of training area, alongside a variety of different aircraft, with support from air-to-air refuelling tankers and E-7A Wedgetail Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) aircraft, we are able to test ourselves in scenarios which mirror closely real-world combined air operations,” explained Officer Commanding 6 Sqn, Wing Commander Noel Rees.
“The first week (of Pitch Black) saw us conducting Fighter Integration Training (FIT) with other nations before the Large Force Employment (LFE) phase in weeks two and three. Here we were both Red and Blue Air on different sorties, and exercised our Typhoons in a number of different air-to-air and air-to-surface roles,” Wing Commander Rees said in response to ADM’s questions.
“While the exercise may have been unclassified, we were still able operate at near full capability in-cockpit, as many of the other nations may have been able to. The classification certainly doesn’t restrict us practicing our interoperability with the 16 other nations on Pitch Black 22.
“With UK Typhoon being a multi-role and swing-role capable fighter we were able test our skills in a number of different mission sets. This, along with the pure performance of the aircraft, meant we could be used in roles that other fighters could not. In addition, our datalink capability meant we could seamlessly integrate alongside F-35 Lightning II and E-7 Wedgetail. Overall, it’s a potent aircraft that has performed well in this environment.”
Wing Commander Rees also explained the benefits of training in the Northern Territory. “Being able to fly supersonic in 50,000 square miles of training area is a unique benefit for us, and is unmatched elsewhere in the world,” he said. “We have worked closely alongside the RAAF on a number of previous exercises, and we very much share a likeminded approach to air operations. This exercise not only reinforced that, but also gave the opportunity for us to share our experiences and learn from other participating nations. This has extended to outside the flying where our Royal Air Force caterers, movements teams and force protection specialists have also been working alongside their Royal Australian Air Force counterparts, sharing their own experiences.”
As far as lessons learned are concerned, Wing Commander Rees said it provided a “unique opportunity” to deploy over 8,500 nautical miles to Darwin.
“That in itself has generated many lessons, should we need to do so for future operations or exercises. But overall, the clear lesson is that by working closely with other nations, each bringing their own specialisations and skills, the total capability ends up greater than the sum of the parts,” he explained.
“For many of our pilots this was the first time operating in a Large Force Employment exercise, and so it has given them some vital experience in flying in this type of air operation. From the wider team’s perspective, our aircrew, engineers, logisticians, and support personnel from across the Voyager, Atlas and Typhoon forces have also been able to exercise the skills required for short-notice global deployments.”
Despite these benefits, Wing Commander Rees added that future RAF participation in Pitch Black exercises is yet to be decided.
Following Pitch Black 22, the RAF contingent was due to return to the UK via India, where a brief period of bilateral training with the Indian Air Force (IAF) was anticipated.