♦ The Indian Air Force (IAF) participated in the biennial, multinational exercise Pitch Black 2024 at the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Base in Darwin, Australia on 12 July 2024. This year’s iteration is poised to be the largest in its 43-year history, featuring participation from 20 countries, with over 140 aircraft and approximately 4,435 military personnel. This exercise was scheduled from July 12 to August 2.

♦ The exercise initially began as unilateral, but in 1983 became a joint Australia-US training event. Apart from Australia and India, countries that are regular participants include France, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and the United Kingdom.  Other countries such as Brunei, Canada, Fiji and New Zealand have a few personnel participating in the exercise. Countries participating for the first time include Papua New Guinea, Italy, Spain and the Philippines.

♦ The IAF previously took part in the 2018 and 2022 editions of this exercise.