Tuesday, September 23, 2014

AirForces Monthly 10/2014

THIS YEAR'S Exercise Pitch Black 2014 (PB14), was the Royal Australian Air Force's (RAAF's) largest and most complex air exercise, involved up to 110 aircraft and more than 2,300 personnel. The exercise ran from August 1 to 22. Held in the Northern Territory every two years, PB14 included offensive counter air and defensive counter air missions, which were launched from RAAF Bases Darwin and Tindal. The Delamere Range Facility and Bradshaw Field Training Area were also used. Mission scenarios became progressively larger and more complicated through the course of the exercise, requiring mission commanders to factor in a variety of air combat roles. Those practised during Exercise Pitch Black included air-to-air combat, air-to-ground attack, airborne early warning and control, air-to-air refuelling and tactical air transport. In addition, many other ground-borne roles - such as combat support, joint battlefield airspace control, employment of combat controllers (including joint terminal attack control) and exercise co-ordination - were also practised. The exercise areas used for Exercise Pitch Black are some of the largest in the world and feature realistic, simulated and re-created threats and targets.

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