Italian CSG reaches Australia and participates to exercise “Pitch Black 2024”

Before the Cavour aircraft carrier and Alpino frigate respectively docked alongside East Arm Wharf at Darwin harbour and Kuru Wharf at HMAS Coonawarra naval base, the embarked fighter aircraft including AV-8B Harrier II Plus and F-35B STOVL Lightning II belonging to Gruppo Aerei Imbarcati (GRUPAER), the only fighter group of the Italian Naval Aviation, deployed to RAAF Base Darwin in preparation for Exercise Pitch Black 2024, one of the most complex and realistic training events in the Indo-Pacific region, which started on 12 July to last until 2 August.

Although no information were provided on the Cavour air group composition by Italian MoD and Navy, based on the images and other sources, Naval News understood it currently includes six AV-8B and a single TAV-8B plus six F-35B STOVLs aircraft and two NHIndustries SH-90 helicopters for Pedro or SAR duties during air operations, ASuW/ASW and transport duties, while the Alpino embarks a single SH90.

Except for one AV-8B and SH90s visible on the aircraft carrier pulling alongside at Darwin, the remaining six AV-8B/TAV-8Bs and six F-35Bs are today based at RAAF Darwin to participate to exercise Pitch Black 2024, alongside the aviators and aircraft of the Italian Air Force under the “Indo-Pacific Jump 2024” campaign. Having left Italy on 30 June and stopped in Qatar, Maldives and Singapore, the Aeronautica Militare’s air task group includes four Eurofighter Typhoons, six F-35A CTOL and F-35Bs STOVL aircraft alongside one G550 CAEW (Conformal Airborne Early Warning) aircraft and one KC-767A tankers. Two more F-35s are joining soon.

Together with the Australian Armed Forces and other air and naval contingents from 18 nations including France, Germany, Korea, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Singapore, Spain, Thailand, UK, US, Brunei, Canada, Fiji, New Zealand, the Marina Militare’s IT CSG and Italian Air Force detachment aircraft will participate to the biannual exercise Pitch Black, which provides the participants the opportunity to train together with international and allied partners on a vast Australia’s Northern Territory area with large force employment missions, operating mainly from three main air bases and for the first time with the participation of an aircraft carrier group, the IT CSG.

No information have been provided by Italian MoD and Navy on the operational posture of the Cavour air group during the exercise, but Naval News understood that the AV-8B/TAV-8Bs will be launched and recovered in the second phase of the exercise from the aircraft carrier while the F-35Bs will operate from RAAF air bases.

Italy’s naval aviation personnel and aircraft will have the opportunity to test and validate joint operations and procedures with the Italian and other international air and naval forces in an expeditionary contest and large training areas which are not available in the congested Mediterranean area and wider European region. Interestingly, as already tested and certified at home, the IT CSG’s embarked air group will integrate two Italian Air Force F-35Bs after the exercise Pitch Black, operating alongside Italian Navy aircraft during the sailing and stop in the Central Pacific at Guam and then Japan with the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF).

The Indo-Pacific deployment will be key for Italian Navy to achieve the Sea-based Initial Operational Capability (IOC) of the 5th generation aircraft by the end of 2024 with the delivery to Naval Aviation of two additional F-35Bs.

The Pitch Black 2024 exercise moments towards Australia

After leaving Italy on 1^st June, the IT CSG commanded by Rear Admiral Giancarlo Ciappina, reached Singapore as the first stop in the Indo-Pacific Region after sailing through the Suez Canal, the Red Sea and, after a technical stop in Salalah (Oman), the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean.

During the initial part of deployment, the IT CSG sailed alongside, up to Suez, the Numancia Spanish frigate and the French Navy’s Aconit, Forbin and Somme (flagship of the Standing NATO Maritime Group 2 – ​​SNMG2) ships participating to the activation of EUROMARFOR, the first in its 29-year history with an aircraft carrier. In response to current geostrategic needs, the objective of integrating multinational forces makes the deployment of the IT CSG as international by design, i.e. a modular and scalable force with national and international assets, stated the Italian Navy.

During the transit towards the East, the IT CSG provided support to Operations NOBLE SHIELD, CMF, ASPIDES and ATALANTA and interactions were completed with ships of other Navies, including the US Navy Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group, confirming the deployment represents a fundamental strategic objective for ever greater interoperability and cooperation with allied Carrier Strike Groups.

This first IT CSG operational campaign in the Indo-Pacific, the Montecuccoli Multipurpose Combat Ship taking part from August, has a series of strategic objectives according to Italian Navy, including the promotion of national, EU and Alliance interests, naval diplomacy, the safeguarding of the security of international spaces and freedom of navigation, cooperation and interoperability in a multinational and joint-force context, alongside the consolidation of the strategic projection capability of a Large Force Package.

In addition to the crews of Cavour and Alpino and later on Montecuccoli, the IT CSG also includes personnel from the San Marco Marine Brigade, the Underwater Operations Group (Gruppo Operativo Subacquei) and the Italian Air Force Weather Service.