Exercise Pitch Black 24 was unlike any of its predecessors.
Building on the exercise's 43-year history, Australia hosted 140 aircraft and 4400 personnel from 20 nations over July 12 to August 2.
It was the largest Pitch Black to date, and as nations arrived in Australia from early July, every day seemingly brought a new milestone.
This included the Philippines' first time deploying combat aircraft abroad, to the Italian Navy's aircraft carrier ITS Cavour - the debut of such a ship in this exercise.
Regardless of whether it was a nation's first time at Pitch Black or its 40th anniversary - as it was for New Zealand - the exercise brought together like-minded personnel from around the globe.
Officer Commanding the exercise Air Commodore Pete Robinson said it delivered the training and engagement goals of all participating nations, but most importantly strengthened relationships and friendships.
"The feedback from all international partners and our own people alike was that Exercise Pitch Black 24 was a world-class air combat training activity," Air Commodore Robinson said.
"More than 1700 missions were flown in the exercise across an exercise area about the size of Great Britain.
"The value of this exercise comes in the experience we've built with international partners, and the relationships and friendships we've created with them on the ground and in the air."
First-time participation at Exercise Pitch Black 24 included aircraft and personnel from Philippines, Spain, Italy and Papua New Guinea, and embedded personnel from Fiji and Brunei.
'More than 1700 missions were flown in the exercise across an exercise area about the size of Great Britain.'
Returning to the exercise were aircraft and personnel from Australia, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Thailand, United Kingdom and United States, as well as embedded personnel from Canada and New Zealand.
Familiar Pitch Black elements included jets launching from RAAF Bases Darwin and Tindal for complex air combat missions over Australia's Top End.
The growing number of aircraft required the exercise's large force employment phase to grow from two waves per day to three, with waves of more than 50 aircraft launching by morning, afternoon and night.
The increased size of Exercise Pitch Black 24 was largely possible thanks to infrastructure growth in the Northern Territory, including the use of the Defence Accommodation Precinct - Darwin (DAP-D), which housed more than 4000 personnel.
The journey to reach Exercise Pitch Black 24 was a milestone in itself for some nations, such as the combined French, German and Spanish 'Pacific Skies' deployment that arrived on July 20.
The US Air Force deployed the F-22A Raptor to the exercise for the first time, joining RAAF and Italian F-35s to make it the largest Pitch Black for fifth-generation combat aircraft.
Six nations cooperated at RAAF Base Amberley to launch air-to-air refuelling missions to the Top End airspace, as well as sharing their expertise in local exchanges.
At RAAF Base Darwin, a pair of PAC-750 light transports from the Papua New Guinea Defence Force's Air Transport Wing became a familiar sight as they carried essential personnel and visitors to RAAF Base Tindal.
From command-and-control specialists to combat support personnel, aircrew from 26 different aircraft types and countless other roles, there were opportunities for individuals to better understand how to work together on operations.
"We strive at Exercise Pitch Black to build cooperation across all participants at all levels of this exercise so that we're prepared to overcome future challenges," Air Commodore Robinson said.
"The exercise involves the most advanced combat aircraft in service today, and provides training that's essential to sustaining peace and stability across the region."
'The value of this exercise comes in the experience we've built with international partners, and the relationships and friendships we've created with them on the ground and in the air.'
Not all milestones were so auspicious, with an Italian Air Force pilot safely ejecting from his Typhoon aircraft during a mission on July 24.
It was the first major accident on any Pitch Black exercise, and Air Commodore Robinson saved special praise for his staff who activated their safety and emergency responses.
"The response from our people to respond to the incident, integrate with our Italian partners and coordinate with the NT emergency services was just sensational," Air Commodore Robinson said.
"Our Defence personnel worked rapidly and efficiently to respond to this situation and were able to retrieve the pilot into the helicopter just 90 minutes after we knew something had happened.
"We train for these scenarios as part of our safety planning, and I was pleased to see the calm, professional and quick work by our teams to ensure this positive outcome - I couldn't be happier with how they performed."
One constant that remained throughout Pitch Black was the support of local communities, from crowds watching aircraft in the circuit at RAAF Base Darwin, through to those following it online.
"Once again we're grateful to the support of Australian communities, and in particular communities in the Northern Territory," Air Commodore Robinson said.
"We joined 22,000 people for the Mindil Beach flying display on July 18, hosted 30,000 visitors at the RAAF Base Darwin open day on July 20, and spoke with more than 4500 school students during visits supported by international personnel."
Exercise Pitch Black is planned to return in 2026.
