Pitch Black involved a record number of multirole refuelers from NATO, the United States, Great Britain, France, Singapore, Australia, and South Korea
The Pitch Black multinational exercise in 2022 featured a record number of multirole refuelers.
Here's What We Know
The exercise began on August 19 and lasted until September 8. It took place in northern Australia. France, South Korea, Singapore, Great Britain and NATO each sent an Airbus A330 MRTT (Multi Role Tanker Transport) multipurpose tanker to the exercise. They were joined by two U.S. Marine Corps KC-130J Super Hercules and two Australian Airbus A330 MRTTs.
The Singapore, NATO and U.K. tankers were based at Royal Australian Air Force Base. Meanwhile, the Australian and U.S. tankers were based at Tyndall Air Base. Due to lack of space, however, the remaining multi-purpose tankers remained at Amberley Air Base.
All the planes together could lift 831 tons of fuel into the air. However, no more than five tankers were in the sky at a time. In addition, some of the fuel was needed for the multi-purpose tankers themselves. Nevertheless, the exercise managed to set a record both in terms of fuel volume and the number of planes.
Interestingly, South Korea's MRTT only refueled South Korean planes in the air. The Airbus A330 MRTT of the NATO fleet, on the other hand, supported five Eurofighter fighters of the German Air Force. In addition, during the first week of the exercise a Singapore tanker refueled the Eurofighter as the runway was closed due to an emergency situation.
Source: Defense News
Image: Aerotime Hub, Wikipedia