The Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) will participate in Exercise Pitch Black 2018 from 27 July until 17 August 2018 at Darwin, Australia. This is one of the world’s largest air combat exercises.
Air Operations Commander, Lt. General Dato’ Sri Haji Abdul Mutalib bin Datuk Haji Ab Wahab officiated the sending off at Butterworth Air Base on Tuesday, 24 July 2018. The aircrafts involved are 5 Boeing F/A-18D Hornet from No 18 Squadron and 1 Airbus A400M Tactical Airlifter from No 22 Squadron. Col. Koey “Mickey” Tan Chai, the commanding officer of No 18 Squadron is the Commander of the 118 personnel contingent.
The RMAF assets involved in the first participation in 2008 were six F/A-18D Hornet aircraft from No. 18 Squadron and one tanker refueling KC-130H from No. 20 Squadron. Participation at that time involved about 100 employees and members.
Canada, France, Germany, Indonesia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, India, Malaysia and United States will participate in this biennial exercise. The exercises will be centrally managed at RAAF Base Darwin and RAAF Base Tindal.
Read more about Exercise Pitch Black here
