The video was filmed in Australia, the current location of Exercise Pitch Black 22. With the hashtag "BridgesOfFriendship," the IAF captioned the video, "As the pace picks up at ExPitchBlack22, so does the bonhomie." At the beginning of the video, Captain Mathieu, a French pilot flying a single-seat Rafale fighter jet with the call sign "Rookie," hailed India.
In the video, the French pilot shows the Indian Air Force pilot his Rafale fighter jet. The Indian counterpart did the same for the French pilot, showing him around his Su-30 MKI.
The video was uploaded on September 5 by the French ambassador to India with the caption, "High-altitude fellowship Down Under! Watch as IAF and French Rafale pilots train together in Australia as part of ExPitchBlack22, a multilateral air exercise.
Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, India, and Japan are among the 17 nations that will be participating in Exercise Pitch Black, a biennial exercise that will take place in Darwin from August 19 to September 8.
In a difficult and realistic training environment, the exercise this year pits up to 2,500 soldiers and 100 aircraft from participating nations against fictitious threats. Due of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 drills were postponed and the most recent exercise was undertaken in 2018.
Air Commodore Tim Alsop, the exercise's commander, believes that Pitch Black's return is a great chance to forge alliances and promote regional stability.
According to the RAAF, the exercise recognises Australia's solid partnerships, the value it placed on regional security, and its efforts to forge close ties with nations in the Indo-Pacific region.
The training area for this year is 300 nautical miles long and 240 nautical miles wide. More complex and realistic scenarios are possible due to the expanded region.
"Pitch Black is an exercise involving the employment of a sizable force that is based on fighter combat situations. The air-to-air refuelling capabilities between many of the participating nations has advanced significantly this year, according to Alsop, who was mentioned in a RAAF announcement.
Four Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter jets and two C-17 heavy-lift aircraft are participating in the drill from the Indian Air Force. Recently, there has been a significant increase in India and France's military and strategic cooperation.
Previously, a joint air force drill was carried out by French Rafale and Indian Su-30 MKI aircraft in November 2021. The Rafale fighter plane, which is of French origin, is also flown by India.
India and France signed a contract in September 2016 to purchase 36 fly-away Rafale multi-role fighter aircraft for €7.87 billion. The choice was made following the unexpected declaration made by India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi in April 2015, which emphasised the "vital operational requirement" of the IAF.
In July 2022, Emmanuel Lenain, the French ambassador to India, declared that France has given India all 36 Rafale combat jets.
#BridgesOfFriendship
— Indian Air Force (@IAF_MCC) September 3, 2022
As the pace picks up at #ExPitchBlack22, so does the bonhomie.
Pilots from #IAF and #FASF show their steeds to each other.@Armee_de_lair pic.twitter.com/JxX1KcEUg0