Alert 5

A small number of Indonesian T-50 advance jet trainers are training in Darwin this month, marking the first time the unit has taken part in Exercise Pitch Black and the first time it has deployed to Australia at all. Squadron 15, based at Iswahjudi Air Base in Madiun, East Java, brought fifteen pilots for the exercise, flying two sorties a day during last week’s force integration phase, a number set to rise to four sorties daily over the next two weeks as the exercise enters its force employment phase.

Continue reading “Indonesia’s Golden Eagles land in Darwin for first Pitch Black deployment”

For Lieutenant Colonel Mario C. Mendoza Jr., flying over northern Australia never loses its edge. As working group lead for the Philippine Air Force (PAF) contingent at Exercise Pitch Black, and an instructor pilot for the FA-50, Mendoza has spent the exercise navigating airspace far larger than anything he trains in back home.

Continue reading “Philippine Air Force pilots take on new leadership role at Exercise Pitch Black 2026”

The smell of chicken noodle soup drifts across a stretch of tarmac at RAAF Base Darwin, competing with the scent of jet fuel. It comes from a kitchen the Royal Thai Air Force brought with it from home, staffed by cooks who start work at 3 a.m. and finish well into the afternoon, feeding nearly a hundred people three meals a day, sometimes four. It is, by the account of the officer running the detachment, one of the more important pieces of equipment his unit deployed to Australia this year.

Continue reading “Thai F-16s return to Pitch Black after a decade away”