Two Scandinavian nations, Finland and Sweden, have made the long-haul trek to the Top End, attending Exercise Pitch Black 26 for the first time.

Both nations sent representatives to observe Pitch Black, with their presence marking a deliberate and significant step in building strategic relationships that extend beyond the exercise itself.

While in Darwin, Finland’s delegation focused its attention towards the Royal Australian Air Force’s (RAAF) fighter capabilities.

As the Finnish Air Force begins to integrate its own F-35A Lightning II fleet, their representatives sought to learn more about how fourth- and fifth-generation capability is integrated into a large multi-national exercise. 

In particular, the Finnish Air Force's Lieutenant Colonel Ville Uggeldahl, Commanding Officer of the Air Warfare Centre, was eager to gain insight into how Australia has combined command and control systems, fast jet platforms and coalition partners into a complex yet successful exercise.

“It is an honour to be here – we’re very eager to see how the fighter integration is planned and executed, noting there are many countries participating,” Lieutenant Colonel Uggeldahl said.

“This is a big exercise for Australia and we’re happy to see it all and take back home some lessons learned on how we should operate on an exercise like this.”

'It’s a fantastic gathering of different kinds of assets and with nations that have a lot knowledge.'

The Swedish contingent concentrated on a different dimension of airpower and focused on the sustainment and maintenance of fast jet aircraft under exercise tempo.

Pitch Black offered the Swedish Air Force a rare chance to compare notes with a partner force operating and maintaining aircraft at scale across vast distances and demanding environmental conditions. 

Master Sergeant Ronny Hagman, an aircraft technician with the Swedish Air Force, said this opportunity was crucial.

“Our role is to especially observe how the Australian Air Force operate their F/A-18F Super Hornets from a maintenance perspective,” Master Sergeant Hagman said.

“It’s a fantastic gathering of different kinds of assets and with nations that have a lot knowledge.

“We can benefit from learning how to deploy forces back home and conduct agile combat deployments.

“We haven’t seen that much in operations so it is a fantastic exercise to me.” 

For RAAF, hosting the Finnish and Swedish contingents reflects the growing weight Pitch Black carries as a draw card for like-minded Indo-Pacific and Euro-Atlantic air forces navigating an increasingly complex strategic environment. 

Pitch Black is being held from July 20 to August 7, primarily in Northern Australia.