{"id":367814,"date":"2026-07-20T15:18:38","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T09:48:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/?p=367814"},"modified":"2026-07-20T15:18:38","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T09:48:38","slug":"ex-pitch-black-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/ex-pitch-black-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex Pitch Black 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"content-box-green\">\n<p><strong>News:<\/strong> The Indian Air Force started participating in Ex Pitch Black 2026 at the Royal Australian Air Force Base Darwin from 20 July 2026.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"red-h2-box\">About Ex Pitch Black 2026<\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_367820\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-367820\" style=\"width: 399px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-367820\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Source-DD-India.jpg?resize=399%2C221&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Ex Pitch Black 2026\" width=\"399\" height=\"221\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Source-DD-India.jpg?resize=300%2C166&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Source-DD-India.jpg?resize=768%2C425&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Source-DD-India.jpg?w=918&amp;ssl=1 918w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 399px) 100vw, 399px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-367820\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source &#8211; DD India<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Ex Pitch Black 2026<\/strong> is the <strong>Royal Australian Air Force\u2019s flagship biennial multinational air combat exercise<\/strong> with a <strong>45-year history.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Origin of Name:<\/strong> The <strong>name &#8220;Pitch Black&#8221;<\/strong> comes from the <strong>exercise\u2019s focus on night flying<\/strong> over the large unpopulated areas of northern Australia.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Host Country:<\/strong> <strong>Australia hosts Ex Pitch Black 2026<\/strong> through the <strong>Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF).<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Objective:<\/strong> The exercise aims to <strong>enhance operational interoperability, strengthen military cooperation, improve force integration, and exchange operational best practices<\/strong> in realistic multinational air combat scenarios.<\/li>\n<li><strong>First Edition:<\/strong> <b>June 1981<\/b><\/li>\n<li><strong>2026 Location:<\/strong> The exercise is <strong>conducted at RAAF Bases Darwin<\/strong> and<strong> Tindal in the Northern Territory<\/strong>, and <strong>RAAF Base Amberley in Queensland, Australia.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Participating Countries:<\/strong> <strong>More than 19 nations<\/strong>, including <strong>India, Australia, the USA, the UK, Japan, France, Indonesia, Singapore, South Korea, Canada,<\/strong> and other Indo-Pacific partners, are participating in the exercise.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Key Features of Ex Pitch Black 2026:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Scale of Exercise:<\/strong> The 2026 edition brings together more than <strong>19 nations<\/strong>, <strong>100+ aircraft, and 4,400+ personnel<\/strong><strong>.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Operational Training:<\/strong> The exercise focuses on <strong>complex aerial manoeuvres, offensive counter-air operations, air defence tracking, tactical coordination, mission planning, and integrated high-intensity operational training.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>IAF Participation:<\/strong> The Indian Air Force ( IAF) has <strong>deployed Rafale fighter aircraft, supported by C-17 Globemaster III and IL-78 Air-to-Air Refuelling aircraft<\/strong>, along with <strong>pilots, engineers, technicians, controllers, and other experts.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>India&#8217;s Previous Participation:<\/strong> The IAF has participated in <strong>the 2018, 2022, and 2024 editions<\/strong>, reaffirming its commitment to strengthening defence cooperation and regional security.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>News: The Indian Air Force started participating in Ex Pitch Black 2026 at the Royal Australian Air Force Base Darwin from 20 July 2026. About Ex Pitch Black 2026 Ex Pitch Black 2026 is the Royal Australian Air Force\u2019s flagship biennial multinational air combat exercise with a 45-year history. Origin of Name: The name &#8220;Pitch&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/ex-pitch-black-2026\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Ex Pitch Black 2026<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10401,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1566,11204,164,12039],"tags":[11872],"class_list":["post-367814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-factly-articles","category-defence-exercises","category-international-relations-daily-factly-articles","category-knolls","tag-9pm-daily-factly","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10401"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=367814"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367814\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}