The chiefs of the Royal Australian Air Force and the German Air Force have flown together during Exercise Pitch Black 2026, with Air Chief Marshal Stephen Chappell in an F/A-18 Super Hornet and Lieutenant General Holger Neumann in a Eurofighter Typhoon departing from RAAF Base Darwin. The joint sortie took place during the multinational air combat exercise in northern Australia.
Pitch Black 2026 runs from 20 July to 7 August and involves about 2,500 personnel from 21 nations, with more than 100 aircraft taking part across one of the world’s largest exercise areas. German defence material places the main exercise window from 27 July to 7 August, following Fighter Integration Week from 20 to 24 July, with activity centred on Darwin and Tindal in the Northern Territory.
The flight offered a visible demonstration of Australia-Germany air force cooperation and the interoperability focus that underpins Pitch Black. Australia describes the event as the RAAF’s biennial capstone international air combat exercise, a setting that regularly brings senior officers into operational flying alongside multinational partners.