Another Carrier Enters the Indo-Pacific

...and it has really good food

Are you familiar with Exercise Pitch Black?

Exercise Pitch Black returns from 12 July to 2 August 2024, and the Royal Australian Air Force would like to thank communities across northern Australia once again for their interest and tremendous support.

Held every two years, Exercise Pitch Black focuses on large force employment missions involving large numbers of international aircraft.

Exercise Pitch Black 24 will be the largest in the exercise’s 43-year history. It will bring together 20 participating nations and over 140 aircraft from around the world, with approximately 4435 personnel participating.

This year’s exercise will be conducted primarily from RAAF Base Darwin and RAAF Base Tindal in the Northern Territory; with additional aircraft operating from RAAF Base Amberley, located near Ipswich in Queensland.

There is an interesting twist this year that the picture at the top of the post should have given you a hint about:

The Cavour, measuring 244m long and equipped with advanced aircraft, including the F-35B and AV-8B Harrier II Plus, underscores Italy's commitment to enhancing its military capabilities and strengthening international partnerships.

Commanding Officer Cavour Captain Milos Argenton highlighted the strategic importance of Italy's participation in Pitch Black, emphasising the exercise’s role in fostering interoperability and readiness in a challenging operational environment.

“This is the first time that Italy has joined Exercise Pitch Black and the first time an aircraft carrier has participated,” Captain Argenton said.

“The Cavour has travelled across the Atlantic and around Africa, but this is the first time it has travelled into the Indo-Pacific region.

“It is a multi-capable ship that accommodates over 600 people, 13 jets and two NH90 helicopters.”

Underlining the significance of this deployment for Italy’s national interests and economic ties in the Indo-Pacific, the Italian Navy has also brought the Alpino frigate for the duration of Pitch Black.

…

With personnel deployed in Darwin, the Italian Navy aims to enhance operational readiness and expand collaborative efforts with allied forces, including the Royal Australian Air Force and Royal Australian Navy.

Captain Dario Castelli, responsible for Cavour’s Air Wing operations, said the Italian Navy was aiming to increase its sortie generation rate and enhance interoperability with international partners.

“Exercise Pitch Black represents a milestone, as it is the largest aerial exercise the Italian Navy has ever participated in,” he said.

This is a significant and welcome step bringing like-minded nations - all of whom are our friends, together and focused on Pacific security. Yes, we would all like Italy to spend more and it would have been wonderful if she could have more than a one frigate escort (it would have been amazing to have a German, Spanish, Greek, and perhaps a Norwegian frigate to go with her, a more accurate CSG), but let’s take the win.

…and yes, they brought with them a few of the first batch of the F-35B they ordered with them that will eventually replace their Harriers.

Here’s some more from our friend Alessio Patalano over at RUSI, who invites you to think a bit deeper about why the Cavour, and why now:

This begs three questions. At the most basic level, why is there an Italian CSG in the Indo-Pacific in the first place? Is this yet another deployment joining the flurry of other European forays into the region? And, of no less relevance, in what ways – if at all – do these developments matter to the UK?

This commentary argues that the answers to these questions highlight a significant shift in approach to international affairs under Giorgia Meloni’s government. Such a shift is both a reflection of, and a driver for, the reconceptualisation and expansion of Italy’s geopolitical concept of an ‘enlarged Mediterranean’ which informs the country’s foreign and security policy.

In particular, this article suggests that Italy’s current economic and strategic pursuits as a European actor aim at extending its reach beyond the confines of the country’s North African and Near East links. The government’s new Indo-Pacific aspirations have invited two significant policy changes. On the one hand, Italy endeavours to expand links beyond Europe by playing to the strength of expanding trade connections with actors in the Gulf and Indo-Pacific. On the other, the Italian government seeks to act upon the notion that economic opportunities would be best served by a wider strategic engagement with key partners – not least in the Pacific region – that reflects the current volatility of international security.

Give Alessio’s article a full read, you’ll be better informed by the effort.

While there are things to be concerned about every day, there are also some very good developments out there that are slowly building capacity and shaping national mindsets in a very positive direction for the West and her friends. This is unquestionably part of that trend.

Oh, and as this was taking place off Darwin - where we have a permanent USMC presence, Marine Air came out to play.

Talk about a diverse deck park on a light carrier. We have F-35B, AV-8B, MV-22, NH-90 … as it should be.

More of this. Much more of this.