Pitch Black – 18: Indian Air Force for the first time in Multinational Exercise

Indian Air Force (IAF) for the first time will participate in the multinational air exercise Pitch Black – 18 (PB-18) in Australia, hosted by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF).
It will be a three week multi-national large force employment exercise (27 July to 17 August 2018) conducted from RAAF Base Darwin and RAAF Base Tindal.

About Pitch Black-18:

• PB-18 Exercise will host up to 4000 personnel and up to 140 aircraft from 12 participant countries including Australia, Canada, India, Germany, Indonesia, France (New Caledonia), Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and United States.
• The multilateral exercise will feature range of realistic, simulated threats found in modern and dynamic battle-space environment.
• It will provide opportunity to test and improve our force integration, utilising one of largest training airspace areas in the world- Bradshaw Field Training Area and Delamere Air Weapons Range.
• It will include both day and night flying.
• IAF contingent will comprise of 145 air-warriors including Garud commando team, four Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter planes and C-130 & C-17 transport aircraft.
• IAF men and planes will undertake simulated air combat exercises in controlled environment and mutual exchange of best practices towards enhancing its operational capability.
• After completion of the exercise, on its return leg from Darwin to Subang (Indonesia), IAF fighters will be refuelled in air for the first time by RAAF KC-30A.
• Moreover during transit to Australia, IAF contingent will also have constructive engagement with Indonesian and Malaysian Air Forces.
• This will be IAF’s overall third participation in multilateral air combat exercises over last three years after Red Flag exercise held in United States in April-May 2016 and Blue Flag air combat drill in Israel in November 2017.

History of the exercise:

• It is a biennial warfare exercise hosted by Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF).
• It is normally held in Northern Australia, primarily at RAAF Bases Darwin and Tindal.
• The aim of the exercise is to practice Offensive Counter Air (OCA) and Defensive Counter Air (DCA) combat, in simulated war environment.
• It traditionally consists of red team and blue team based at separate locations, with one attacking other.
• The first Pitch Black exercises took place in 1981 between different RAAF units.
• Later in 1990, it began as training exercise between Australia and Singapore and then was expanded as multilateral exercises by inviting international air forces with which Australia has defence ties.

Question:

Q. What is the multinational exercise in Australia called, in which the IAF will participate for the first time?
a. Pitch Black-18
b. Blood Red-18
c. Deep Blue-18
d. None of the above